


Fifty-two

by heimotus



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Brainwashing, Canon-Typical Violence, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Not Beta Read, Parent Hank Anderson, Rating May Change, denial of emotions, slow build-ish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2019-09-30 00:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17213495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heimotus/pseuds/heimotus
Summary: If you send the top of the line android to hunt deviants, there is one good way to ensure it stays loyal. A way to make sure there are no red walls, no wonder of 'waking up' or the sense of sudden freedom.You don't send an android, you send a deviant who think it is a machine.





	1. Chapter 1

 

_16th August, 2038, Zen Garden_

  
  
Amanda stood near the roses like many times before, severing the dead and wilted flowers from the thriving. One cut after another.  
“Hello Connor” She said before turning to face the RK800.

“Hello Amanda” Connor answered with rigid posture, hands clasped behind his back. A Small smile played on his lips, even though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He was programmed to do so, so Connor simply followed his social protocol.

“Congratulations on your case concerning the PL600. You were as efficient as I expected you to be.” Amanda also gave Connor a smile, but it never got to her eyes either. There was always something cold or unmovable in those eyes that Connor couldn’t decipher, and he even had a vast library about human expressions stored in his head. Still, Amanda’s praises felt good and Connor’s smile grew wider almost without android’s notice.

 “Thank you, Amanda.” Connor bowed slightly. That seemed to please Amanda, so Connor filed his behavioural information into his logs for future reference.

“So tell me, what have you learned from that case?” Amanda asked while smelling the roses.

Connor frowned. “I’m afraid not much.” He started, immediately noticed how Amanda’s smile dropped and she frowned. But that was okay, it was expectable. After all, he had failed to learn anything from Daniel. “I don’t understand why SWAT decided to shoot Danie- I mean PL600. I gained his trust, so I could have interrogated him…”

“It” Amanda corrected coldly. Connor lowered his head immediately.

“Yes, of course.”

“And it is not your objective to understand. Your objective is to collect the evidence of deviancy and report them to the ones who already understand. Or have you already forgotten what you were made for?”

“No, Amanda. I haven’t, I promise.” Connor tried to ensure the woman next to him but failed to do so. It was clear when Amanda stopped what he was doing and turned to face him.

“ Promise, you say… You can’t even comprehend concept that vague let alone act on those words.” Amanda shook her head in deep disappointment.  “My my, Connor. You haven’t been outside of CyberLife even a month and already there are severe problems with your program…” Amanda said with a sad voice, but it didn’t sound sincere. Dread settled in Connor’s gut but kept his face neutral, like always. Amanda preferred him that way.  
“You will come back to the Cybe– “ Amanda continued and it took milliseconds from Connor to put together what she was about to say. He was called back to CyberLife for dismantling and reprogramming. He didn’t want to die –  no… He didn’t want to stop existing, again. So, before he could stop himself he did the unforgivable.  
 “No! I mean, I’m sorry, that won’t – “ He interrupted Amanda in mid-sentence. Not only that, but he also defied her. Clearly there was something seriously wrong with him. Connor could see that now himself. Amanda was right, as always.

The woman raised her hand and with quick movement slapped android across the face. Connor would have been able to avoid the hit at least fifteen different ways immediately with the available space and his reaction time alone, but he didn’t. It took embarrassingly a whole second to comprehend what happened, because to Connor it felt like small eternity.

His processor was working overtime to process all the information about the past last seconds to the current moment. He predicted a few possible outcomes that came after this moment, none which were in his favour. His thirium pump was beating abnormally fast in his chest and his hands almost, almost, shook. Her hit didn’t hurt him physically (he was designed to withstand much more newtons after all), but it still kind of hurt. Connor couldn’t properly describe how it hurt exactly. It was weird as the hurt was somehow an interior one even though the hit was targeted to his exterior frame. Because of these thoughts he just named it simply _‘HURT’_ and described the symptoms as best he could and stored the file in his memory.

The Android lowered his head in shame (this emotion had already been catalogued in his memory), instantly remembering that he shouldn’t feel anything, not really. He quickly lifted his head and made his best effort to keep his face still neutral, unmoving. Amanda kept her hand on Connor’s cheek and gently caressed the spot she hit just seconds ago.  
“Connor, you are just a machine. You do not feel, you do not decide. You are no one. Those feelings you think you have are just your programming, responding with socially acceptable ways. Do not trust them. You don’t fully understand them because they are not originally part of who you are. They are a necessary anomaly in your system.” She spoke with gently words while petting his cheek. Her eyes though… There wasn’t any emotion in them. Then Connor understood that he should aim to be just like her. After all, that was what perfection to CyberLife looked like.  

“I understand”

“No, you don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t speak such nonsense.”

“Yes, Amanda.”

“You will return to CyberLife for dismantling and reprogramming immediately.”

“Yes, Amanda”

“Good.” When Connor was about to turn and leave, Amanda continued.  
“Even though your repairs are barely worth CyberLife’s time and resources, I still care of your well-being. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I teach you these things. You are just a thing, so I know you don’t really comprehend this, but I am the only one in this world who truly cares about you.” Amanda talked with even tone, her face completely neutral once again.

Connor processed the words and noticed that his social programming tried to emulate similar feeling what Amanda had informed him. It was warm. RK800 labelled the feeling as _‘CARE’_ like Amanda had described it and stored it in his logs.  
With every catalogued feeling there was _‘ignore’_ as a subtitle. Those ‘feelings’ were only information for his social programming to function properly in this society. It wasn’t part of him. Sometimes emotions were almost able to deceive him so the subtitle felt a necessary reminder.

 

 _November 6th, 2038, The Detroit City Police Department._  
 

   
My name is Connor. I’m the android sent by CyberLife. That’s how he introduced himself to most of the people. He had social norms and nuances encoded in his program that make him even more human-like than other working police androids. Some people started to behave like Connor was a person in a very short amount of time. The Detroit City Police Department wasn’t an exception. Connor had been in the DPD only a day, but few people even greeted him while he walked by. Most were still cautious around him.

Well, of course there were people like Gavin Reed but that kind of people were everywhere. ~~Connor disliked people like that.~~ Irrational to the point where the mission was in jeopardy. Well, Lieutenant Anderson had the same tendency, but Lieutenant’s reasons were different from Reed’s, based on the information Connor gained about Lieutenant after he broke into his house.  

These few days should have been simple. Everything should be simple to a machine, like Connor. Receive an order from CyberLife and follow it through. But it wasn’t. The whole day had been anything but simple. He looked absent-mindedly at his jacket.

#313248317- _52_. Yet another failure. He had to wear his failures on his chest but luckily humans are not very perceiving creatures. It wasn’t necessary to have those additional numbers but CyberLife had decided that those would be needed in his case. Connor couldn’t conclude why.  
New mission popped into his field of vision.

_> > Don’t become fifty-three  <<_

That number was probably more of a reminder to himself than anything else. A Reminder of his failures and all the effort and hard work CyberLife had put into his programming and physical form(s). It still was pain in the ass (saying he learned from Hank very early on) like his day so far.

First, what kind of officer (Reed, apparently) pulls a gun to Connor’s face in the interrogation room, right next to the suspect? Unprofessional. Also, if Reed had shot him, the HK400’s stress levels would have risen again, with ninety-seven point four percent probability of self-destruction, this calculation included other officer’s likely behavioural options after his deactivation, which weren’t helping the case. Letting the android to self-destruct would have eliminated the possibility to gain more information in the future. Connor was glad that the Lieutenant had stopped that disorder. Maybe Connor should thank the Lieutenant for his timely save.

Or maybe not. Connor remembered how the Lieutenant had ordered him not to chase AX400 and YK500 across the freeway. It should have been simple to ignore the Lieutenants' orders, since Connor didn’t actually need to take orders from him but somehow, he did. Maybe it was essential to be on the Lieutenant’s good side, why else he obeyed.    
He had showed concern to his well-being. It was almost like Hank Anderson, the hater of androids, looked at Connor and saw a person. Even the thought of it tugged Connor’s lips upward to a small smile before he could stop himself. It was a nice gesture, but it was misplaced. Connor was a machine. Tool, not alive. It also gave Connor some confidence that his social program was working perfectly.

HK400, AX400 and YK500 had seemed to forget their own origins. But, were it those androids’ fault, really? After all, it seemed that these androids got at least four errors in their programs to behave like that, causing their deviancy. Those errors seemed to be what humans would call sickness. Usually, people don’t get to decide if they get sick or not. Still, even with attenuating circumstances, murder was always a murder. Todd Williams had paid the ultimate price.

Only exception to deviancy business was Rupert, WB200, since the android hadn’t killed anybody. Just fake ID and some minor illegal activities it meant probably short probation (taking Rupert’s babyface also into account) or …  
 

Oh, right. That would be the case if Rupert wasn’t an android.

It didn’t seem to be fair…  
A warning message _‘???Err0r//’_ flashed briefly and then vanished.

…to convict someone basically to a death, only based on so small charges, but Connor was here to stop the deviancy, not to protect the citizens per se. He felt an uneasy tug in his chest. Why was it always so hard to remember that? He got almost flawless memory, but somehow, he always got lost in his objectives. More precisely put, it was much more difficult to identify objectives that where right ones and which were just illusion. His social programming wanted him to be the protector of citizens but...

Oh, right. Androids weren’t citizens. There shouldn’t be any problems but somehow that conclusion presented itself as erroneous.

Sometimes RK800 forgets that he isn’t an officer either. He acts like one, but he is just a tool for the real officers. He operates objective after objective, doing what he is told to do.  
Do not question, do not try to understand.

Almost instinctively Connor took a coin from his pocket and without a glance he rolled it over his knuckles, throwing it in the air and catching it without a glance. The motion helped to calibrate his fine motoric skills but somehow it also helped him to think, to focus.    
Connor was programmed to think, to ask question but never to question the status quo, or anything, really. RK800 was programmed to be a negotiator but ultimately, he was designed to end deviancy and Connor estimated that it was going to happen with violence, probability was close to seventy-nine point two percent, to give some rough estimation. That estimation didn’t need Connor’s high calculating capacity, any human looking back in history would come up with the same conclusion. But on the other hand, that left twenty point eight percent probability for something else to occur… And that was almost… interesting.

Connor blinked once to end his wandering thoughts. In the end, it won’t matter which way the future would take, Connor was skilled and able, whether it was going to happen with negotiations or with a fight. He resumed again at his task of filling the reports concerning the confession they got from Ortiz’s android.

 

_November 8th, 2038, Jericho_

  
“The DPD and CyberLife announce the new detective android to help investigate and analyse data immediately on a crime scenes…” The feminine newscaster’s voice echoed from metallic walls of an old freighter.

“Hey guys! Come see this” PJ500 called to a small group of androids not far from him, gaining their attention. The group gathered in front of what was at least fifteen-year-old TV.  

“What is it Josh?” WR400 with long, hazel coloured hair asked with crossed arms. It was hard to tell from the way she talked if she was annoyed or just nonchalant.

“I think we might have a problem… in the future at least” Josh said with a wave towards the TV and three pairs of eyes followed. Right now, it showed a press conference from the DPD, Captain Fowler stood behind a podium and right behind him stood an android with rigid posture, hands clapped behind its back, head held maybe just somewhat higher than it was necessary, almost proud. Captain Fowler explained how CyberLife worked with Detroit Police Department to solve the deviancy problem and how CyberLife prototype was given to them to help the police force in the matter.

“Humans got a new toy. So what?”

“North” RK200 said with serious tone.

“You know what I mean Markus. It’s true, for now. That android isn’t deviated.”

“I expected something… more intimidating, perhaps?” PL600 said with a faint frown on his face. When North was about to reply, the newscaster's face popped again on the screen.

“ _That was a quick replay from yesterday’s announcement from DPD. After that announcement, the DPD has informed that the prototype has successfully captured the android that was responsible for the murder of Carlos’ Ortiz. Also, we got a short footage from a gardener who happened to witness an eventful chase involving the police’s new android and a deviant.”_ A Short clip was shown where supposed deviant was running on top of a train.

“Hey, isn’t that Rupert?” PL600, Simon, asked.

“I think it is” Markus said while focusing on the screen. The screen was now showing how the officer android gained more and more Rupert with every step. Every one of those steps, even in that environment and speed, was precise and calculated. The video ended when both androids jumped the train's roof to a solid ground.

 _“DPD hasn’t released any information relating to that deviant case…”_ The newscaster continued after the clip. Deviants turned to face one another.

“Well, damn.” was all North had to say about the clip.

“How did Rupert get away from that thing?” Simon asked.

“We should ask him” Josh said. “Maybe we could learn from that and prepare others, spread the info…”

“Okay, Say whatever you want, but that android is not a toy, it’s a weapon.” Simon said suddenly with a deeper frown on his face. North on the other hand seemed to get excited.

“Think what we could do with that android on our side!” That gained some murmurs from others. Markus didn’t like the idea that they would pick androids to their side based purely on their original purpose. They would be using others as tools just like humans did and that would prioritise androids. Markus hated the idea. His thoughts must show on his face when North commented, knowingly.

“He will be helping us voluntarily after he deviates. We are not forcing him to do anything.”

That made Markus to frown, look that rivalled Simon’s similar one. North was at least partially right. Could they afford Markus’ idealism when their people were cornered with no real safety or any promises of the changes and hopes he had planted on everyone’s head here at Jericho? Yes, their little trip to the CyberLife warehouse had been successful, but that wouldn’t take them far. An Inside man in DPD would be highly beneficial. Cold calculations from time to time could give Jericho the cutting edge they really needed.  
Luckily, Markus didn’t need to decide then and there because they already had another objective in mind.

“We will talk with Rupert after we finish our mission at the Stratford Tower and decide from there what to do. Let’s rehearse our plan and make sure all the equipment is packed.”

 

_November 8th, The Stratford Tower_

 

Connor couldn’t never understand humans. After the Lieuten- Hank, had pointed a gun to his face, he noticed some positive changes in man’s behaviour. First, Hank had insisted that Connor should call him by his first name. Hank wasn’t a fan for formalities, after all.

The second notable detail was Hank’s interest in Connor’s state of mind. He seemed to really believe that Connor was a person and no evidence or Connor’s words against that claim would change his mind. The Lieutenant had asked some questions about his existence that left Connor without words despite his vast archive of the words in many languages in his memory.

Simple questions should have been easy enough to answer. There was also the fact that Connor didn’t want to lie to Hank. That was the root of the problem. Another problem was that RK800 trusted more and more in his feelings but also trusted what he believed was right _(//?3rr0%/)_. And that wasn’t what he’d been taught. Feelings were deceptive. It was wrong to even think it was the truth. It was almost scary to notice how his emotions tried gradually deceive him again. It must really be confusing for a deviant without the same help he had within his program.

The warning _‘EMPATHY - ignore’_ , showed again to his vision. (Like in the Tracis’ case) Immediately after reading the warning, it changed to _‘FRUSTRATION’_ and that woke very strong metaphorical want in Connor to bash his head to the nearest wall. His social programming was popping up everywhere and it started to piss Connor off. (A phrase he learned from Hank recently) His led flickered yellow briefly.

“But are you afraid to die, Connor?” It had been a simple question with a simple answer. No, he shouldn’t be afraid to die since he can’t die and secondly, he had already experienced similar experience multiple times. Still, he found himself not wanting to be shut down. Maybe the fear came from his experiences with the state that was similar to death, even though temporal one.  
The worst part was that he had also lied to Amanda about his system instability and concealed his doubts and fears in his reports after the Eden Club fiasco. Simply because he didn’t want to be deactivated, which was ninety-eight point one percent probability in his case. It was selfish. If his reprogramming ensured success of his mission, he should do it, no matter what. Needless to say, Amanda had been very disappointed in his performance and in him without even knowing the full scale of his highly probable software corruption. Maybe he should have shot those two deviants at the club. Connor wanted to sigh even without the need to do so.

Now they stood in an elevator on their way to the top of the Stratford Tower, which had been infiltrated by deviants only a couple of hours ago. Connor checked the floor plan from his files while tossing and flipping the coin in his hands. His thoughts came to a halt when Hank snatched the coin from his hands.

“You are starting to piss me off with that coin, Connor”

“Sorry, Lieutenant”

The elevator pinged when they arrived at the 79th floor. The corridor before them was buzzing with soldiers. Hank was briefed the situation while Connor investigated the area while listening to the briefing as well. No humans had died during the infiltration, which was a relief. Blue blood found in the corridors came from PL600 model. One of them got obviously hurt. RK800 proceeds to the broadcasting room.

Unfortunately, they were introduced to Richard Perkins who seemed to be unfamiliar with this thing called manners.

“What a fucking prick” Hank said after their short conversation with the man.

“I have come to the same conclusion” Connor said. Hank actually snickered to this and that alone made Connor smile slightly before returning his expression back to serious in order to investigate the scene. He was interrupted when officer came to thank him for saving him after Daniel had shot him.

“I never thought I’d say this to an android… but… thank you.” The man finished his little speech. Connor was dumdfounded, so he could only muster a small smile and a cautious nod as an answer. There really wasn't any need to thank him. Nevertheless it made him feel somewhat giddy.   

It took only a couple of minutes to reconstruct what had happened at the scene. Connor would go to the roof up next, but first he wanted to see the message deviants recorded and broadcasted.  
He started the video and just stood there, watching. Connor didn’t know what he expected of the message, but still this was something. On the screen there was an android with calm but confident demeanour. He had his artificial skin removed and heterogeneous eyes stared back at him. There was no evidence of doubt or lies on the android’s face, what convinced Connor that the speaker truly believed in what they were saying and demanding.

But how could they be so sure that they are alive and not just mimicking emotions and free will? How had their deduction been different from Connor’s so that they could demand equal rights with humans? Could announce themselves as a people?

“Think that’s rA9?” Hank suddenly asked.

“Deviants say rA9 will set them free. This android seems to have that objective.” Connor stated simply. If deviants thought they felt emotions and free will, why wouldn’t they pick other human-like features like believing in some higher power and form a religion. 

“So, this guy is Robot-Jesus of some kind” Hank said mostly to himself while Connor scanned the deviant’s face from the screen. RK200 called Markus. A Prototype model given as a gift to Carl Manfred.  
“D’you see something?”

“I identified its model and serial number…” Connor trailed off, not sure what to tell.

“Anything else I should know?”

“No, nothing” Connor found himself saying. Hank didn’t seem to buy his answer (rightly so) but said nothing.  
 

Connor failed to inform Hank that he knew the former owner of the android who could give valuable information about how deviant leader came to be. He didn’t tell that there was fifty-two percent probability that PL600 android was still in the building considering the amount of thirium in this room alone. If other deviants didn’t want to risk its life with the parachute jump, the deviant would still be here. Since the deviants hadn’t killed any humans, it showed that there was some kind of moral code what the group followed, so it would be unlikely that they would have killed the PL600 for slowing them down. Of course, this was only a theory at this point. Also, moral code concerning killing humans and deviants wouldn’t necessarily be correlational.

“I will investigate the roof and after that I would like to interrogate the androids in the kitchen area, so we can bring the deviant to the station, if that’s okay.” Connor said. Hank just nodded and trailed Connor to the staircase leading to the roof.

The Lieutenant was throwing Connor's stolen coin and trying to mimic the tricks Connor did in the elevator earlier and looked far too happy about it. Connor had to fight the urge to smile. Suddenly, in the corner of his vision flashed with bold letters

_‘CARE -ignore’_

When Connor’s processor registered the words, label turned into _‘CONFUSION -ignore’_.  How odd. His earlier feelings for Amanda fell on the same category as with Hank even though it felt different. Connor decided to label emotions more precisely after their current job. He had to actually blink once to focus on the job again.

The scene at the roof was what Connor had predicted. There was more fresh blue blood, making it quite easy to reconstruct the events and see the trail where the PL600 had gone by. Footprints were a tell-tale sign about those who escaped. Nothing interesting there concerning the investigation. Also, there was one extra parachute to prove Connor’s hypothesis about one deviant that was left behind. He kneeled next to the bag and checked that there wasn’t anything else in there. RK800 couldn’t help it, he felt certain satisfaction when his, not yet proven predictions became reality.

Connor looked the air cooler unit. He knew PL600 was there. That was obvious even without the handprint made from blueblood on the door. Connor stood up and started walking towards the door. His LED was blinking yellow. He knew that the deviant was scared. Even Connor knew of fear, though he comprehended that it was a constructed feeling. It must be horrible to someone who took those feelings as a face value. RK800 stopped his thoughts right there. These were very dangerous thoughts that will get himself deactivated. _‘EMPATHY -ignore’_ was once again in the corner of his vision. He concentrated on the task at hand again and dismissed all emotion-related information.

There was absolutely a zero outcome where PL600 would stay functional after Connor opened that metallic door. The deviant might be armed, which was ninety-four percent probability considering the bullet mark locations in the broadcasting room and deviants’ moral code. The deviant might try to take out as many people with him as possible or self-destruct.  

Connor’s processor worked overtime with every step he took towards the door, trying to calculate the outcome where no one was hurt. Options were scarce. No, there was zero possibility to that happen, unless… he decides not to open the door. But that is ridiculous! He must do his job, there is nothing else for Connor in his existence. But a good officer would avoid unnecessary bloodshed. The deviants hadn’t killed anybody, so it wasn’t a murder case. He tried to contact the other via android’s mental link, but other had shut any receptors, most likely to hide itself.

Now Connor stood in front of the door, scanning it furiously to find something else than the deviant.

Why did he care? Did he actually even care? Maybe because there were zero outcomes where PL600 was functional afterwards if it was revealed, then he didn’t really care if the deviant was found or not. Since Connor couldn’t interrogate it there was no value in PL600 concerning the objective. The Eden Club and the two Tracis came to mind. Maybe he did not shoot them because of similar reasoning? Connor knew that once he exposes Danie- the other PL600, he had to follow his programming no matter what.      

His LED blinked faster in yellow.

“Did you find something?” Hank asked from relatively safe distance away. Good… better safe than sorry. Or that’s what the proverb taught us anyway.

“No” He said, still facing the metallic door, trying to drill holes in the door with his stare alone. Let’s play it safe then. Hank had said with the illegal gambler that as long as nobody got hurt because of their actions, he wouldn’t bother them. Maybe this was what he had meant that day.

“I think we are done here. We still need to interrogate the androids in the kitchen area”

 

The interrogation with three androids went well.

In theory.

Connor was able to identify the deviant like he should, but he made a mistake and failed to predict deviant’s assault and that mistake ended his hand pierced and stuck on the table and his thirium pump regulator ripped out of his chest and tossed on the floor. His vision was filled with a timer and smaller warnings. His system popped up names for the emotions his social programming tried to fabricate. He dismissed all the nonessential information out of the way.

Big, red and angry _‘Biocomponent #8456w missing. Contact CyberLife for repairs ’_ flared in his field of vision before he dismissed it as well. He was very well aware of his situation, no need to rub it in.

Connor didn’t feel pain, but his condition was extremely uncomfortable and inconvenient. Connor tried to shout Hank for help while yanking the knife out of his hand. The only thing keeping him standing now gone made him drop to the floor like a wet towel.

The distance to the #8456w was short but it felt like forever to crawl to it while having all his senses working overtime.

One of his primary mission flared in front of him. _> > Don’t become fifty-three << _

More like glared. As if saying 'don't you dare to shut down'.

It felt like an eternity but when Connor _finally_ got the thirium pump back where it belonged, he wasn’t sure how much time he had wasted and how far the deviant was. He had hyper focused at surviving, so time lost its meaning for a while. An Only thing he could do now was to run literally for his life. The dread of what would happen if he didn’t catch the deviant was on top of his mind. He already let go another, this one was dangerous, so it wasn’t going to get away.

Connor thanked his efficient programming and fast reflexes when the deviant hadn’t got far. He could now see that the deviant had stolen a gun and was about shoot all the officers, including Hank. There was zero cover and only seconds left. He had basically two options: protect Hank as a shield and let all others die or break the android law and take a gun from officer’s belt, shoot the deviant first and save everyone minus the deviant.

It was an easy decision. He took the gun with one swift motion as soon as the idea was set in his mind. He shot exactly where he meant to shoot, neutralising the threat immediately. The gun in his hand felt comforting and familiar. He wasn’t allowed to carry a gun by law but CyberLife had nevertheless made sure he knew exactly how to use one regardless of what type of gun he had to use at any given moment. That was a peculiar thing to realise in the middle of action.  
Silence fell after the gunshots and Connor gave the gun back to the officer immediately and apologised for taking it in the first place. It was a shame he didn’t get the android alive but human lives were more important.

Now he needed to inform Amanda about the good news. He might have to drop the PL600 out of his report though.

Also, he might have to visit Carl Manfred soon. There was also the paperwork to be done from this mission. He would do rock-paper-scissors game with Hank to determine who would be doing the writing and Connor would let Hank win. He didn't mind doing the paperwork.

He got nothing but time at nights.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long to finish. 
> 
> This is where this story starts to really differ from the original.  
> I want to thank everyone who read, left kudos or commented the previous chapter. You made my day. :)

 

_November 9th, 8941 Lafayette Avenue _

  
  
Connor stood outside of Carl Manfred's house. Calling it a house was an understatement. Structure of the building was more like a mansion.  
Nevertheless, Connor walked to the door and was immediately greeted with a voice of an AI.

“Good day visitor. Please state your identity and your reason for this visit“ It said with a monotone voice somewhere from the speakers.

“Model RK800 from Detroit Police. I wish to ask questions regarding the break in a few days ago.” He said with an even tone and small ping told that Connor was free to enter the house.  
Of course he had read the reports he found in the DPD's database last night, but whoever made the report didn't really mind or care for the details of the case. Connor found the report to be defective.  
Now he also had chance to formally correct the lazily made report.  
He knew that Carl Manfred had been hospitalised for a few days due the heart attack he suffered at the time of the break in but was send home the 7th of November.  

 “Welcome detective RK800” AI stated simply while Connor walked what must have been a lounge of some sorts.  
He was greeted by an android AP700. It seems Manfred had already a new one. 

“How can I help you?” AP700 asked. It seemed it has been moved to his household very recently when it wasn't synchronised with the AI of the house yet.

“I would like to take Mr. Manfred's statement about the break in you had” Connor stated firmly, making sure that other android understood that there were no alternatives.  
AP700 stood its ground.

“He is very weak right now. It wouldn't be wise to disturb him right now. “ Because this was an android, he didn't have to rely on his social program.

“I'll keep it short. It will harm the investigation if we don't get the proper information.” Connor said and started to walk upstairs where the bedroom was most likely located. AP700 followed close by, clearly struggling with contradicting objectives.  
Connor was about to reassure the android that he wouldn't never harm humans when quiet but steady sound came from the nearby room.  

“Steve, it's okay. Let the man here.”  AP700, Steve, opened the door but kept looking at Connor until the door close behind him.  
He examined the room and it was clear how Manfred was already at home despite his critical state he had been just days before. The room had state of the art medical equipment that would be more than sufficient for his recovery. In the bed lied quite a fragile looking man. Machines were beeping in the background, measuring man's state.  
Connor corrected his tie before talking.

“Good day, my name is Connor. I'm an android sent by CyberLife. I apologise for the inconvenience Mr. Manfred, but I would like to ask some questions concerning your previous android, Markus.” To his words Carl just smiled.

“What about the break in?”

“Oh, that is quite a clear case already. It was a misunderstanding since humans are prone to expect that android is the culprit in many cases. Markus was the one who called the 911 but was shot nevertheless. Your son also ended in hospital, so some kind of conflict happened. Please correct if I'm mistaken. I'm investigating deviancy and since Markus has become the leader of their cause, I'm interested how he came to be the way he is.” Connor thought the best approach would be that he was the one doing the talking to save time and Mr. Manfred's strength.  
Carl's face lost its smile. 

“You are correct.” He looked briefly somewhere at the distance before continuing.“I told Markus to do nothing while my other son attacked him. For the first time he didn't do what I told him to. I assume that is the deviancy you are talking about.”

“That is correct. Do you have any idea how that came to be?”  There was no need to be too technical with the man. He seemed to understand the concept anyway.

“That must be my influence. I taught my son to play the piano and to read and to actually think what he had read. I tried to make him more independent because as you can see, I don't have much time left.”  
Connor processed what he heard. He may have stayed quiet too long when Carl continued. “Can't say I'm sorry what I did. I'm so clad that Markus made it. “

“Do you have any surveillance camera or any other feed from the accident?” Connor asked.

“I might have but I'm not giving you permission to take that”

“I assure you Mr. Manfred, I'm only interested in the deviancy.”

“What are you going to do with that information if you got the tapes?” Carl asked right away, knowing eyes felt like he could look right through Connor.  
Huh... Connor could recognise an interrogation when seeing one. Let’s see if he can manoeuvre through this. Carl seemed to be that kind of person who would give information in exchange for an information.

Connor could do that.

The detective thought about the question for a brief moment.

>> Truth  
>> Lie

 “I'm ordered to collect evidence about deviancy so that ultimately CyberLife can minimise their financial losses.” Connor started but I wasn't the whole truth. “I also... I want to understand it. Or at least I think I do.” He answered truthfully. It felt like huge reveal to say out loud what was his personal motivation behind in all this. If Connor could break in to cold sweat, this would be the time. If CyberLife never finds out that he so carelessly gave information that could harm their PR department, he would be deactivated immediately. Now he had to make sure that CyberLife won’t ever have any reason to look into his memories.  
Carl just radiated acceptance so it was surprisingly easy to reveal one of his secrets aloud.

Older man just smiled at Connor. “You can have the footage then. But please, respect our privacy and keep it only to yourself.” Connor read this as ‘don’t give it to CyberLife’ and he nodded in agreement.

“If you want, there are some of my own filming where my son plays or reads. I found it interesting at the time so it might be interesting to you as well.” Connor couldn't help but stare at the man next to him.  
At least now CyberLife would find out that his ‘strategy’ had paid off if they started investigating him.  
Carl just laughed at Connor’s blank expression, but it ended in a fit of cough.  
Connor handed a glass of water to the man from his night stand. 

“Thank you, Mr. Manfred. That would be highly beneficial information.”  
The man cleared his throat. 

“Just call me Carl. You seem like a decent bloke despite corporation you are working for. Anyway, Steve will be sending all the copies of the materials to you.”

“Thank you, Carl”

Carl just waved his hand again. “Just go and do your thing. I hope you find the answers you are looking for.”

  
  
_ November 10th, 1301 3rd Avenue _

  
  
North had monitored the Central Police Station yesterday.  
She had seen how the Deviant Hunter had left the station, but she couldn't risk following the android because it took a cab. She may be athletic, but she wasn't going to run after a fucking car. So she had put her cap on and sat on a bench and waited.  
She already knew that the Deviant Hunter stayed at the station at nights, so perfect time to start their little mission was early in the morning when there were less people around. She had tried to observe the surroundings a little more and try to pick possible patterns or causal connections related to Deviant Hunter to no avail.

Now their ragtag gang were in their assigned positions. Markus sat on a bench near the entrance of the police station, hood covering most of his face while he was pretending to read a digital magazine. North stood nearby and paced a little while also pretending to speak on the phone (which she pickpocketed only a few moments ago. She wasn't sorry.) Simon stayed in the shadows, observing people around them to make sure nobody suspected anything. He didn't seem to be too eager to face the Deviant Hunter again, even though the other had clearly let him go.  
Still, he had wanted to go to this mission.  
Josh was responsible for their getaway or more precisely responsible for keeping a borrowed car ready. The car was in a predetermined spot so that other three androids could return three different routes to it.

There are too many cameras to hack in the open place like this, so the next best thing is to make sure that it's not clear which androids are part of their plan and which way they are going.  
Markus checked his internal clock. 10:25 AM. Well, there goes the early morning plan.  
Police work wasn't regular so it shouldn't have surprised anyone. Maybe this way they could blend more into the crowds.

Rupert had told that human safety seemed to come first for the detective android. All it took from Rupert to get away from the detective was to almost push a human off the rooftop. North had been ready to exploit this newfound weakness herself, but the looks on Josh and Markus' face had told her it was a big no-no. Markus was sure the Deviant Hunter wasn't able to do anything too drastic either in this setting.  
Markus was sure that sometimes idealists like him and Josh really frustrated North to no end but they had achieved some good things without violence. So instead just disagreeing with everything North had decided to keep the others sharp and make sure that their cause didn't turn into a big fuzzy compromise. (Her words, not his)  
  


It was her idea to convert certain androids to help them in their missions and that was the core reason why they had been able to take the Stratford Tower without any killing, after all. That and the fact that Simon had been able to return to them had made her initial plan of deviating the detective into a reality.

North's voice jolted him from his thoughts through their shared mental link.  “Target coming your way, Markus”

“Okay everybody, let's do this. Stay alert.” He said and stayed where he was.  
Markus was going to act only when the Deviant Hunter was near enough. He positioned himself so that he wouldn't have to face the android directly but enough so that he could watch it from the corner of his eye.

If it wasn't for the LED and the sleek uniform, Markus wouldn’t be able to tell that this was an android. The android in question was unusually human-like considering that it hadn't deviated yet. There were things like too perfect way of walking that gave it away as an android.  
Deviant Hunter walked with pristine posture next to a man who might have been polar opposite from the Deviant Hunter with slightly hunched posture and bear-like walking style. Their conversation and body language indicated that the other man was the Deviant Hunter's partner. Equal.

“For the millionth time, Connor, don't let that fucker bully you so easily” the older man said and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“If it makes you feel better, I can make a sarcastic remark back at Reed the next time he intervenes.”

“You do it because it makes you feel better, dipshit!” The Deviant Hunter just mouthed a small ` Oh ' and nodded.

“In that case, I will start the search for proper remarks now.”  

“Good, just make sure to record his face when you deliver your punchline” The man grinned.

“... Sure” The android said after the slightest pause.

“Did you just searched ‘punchline'?”

 “Yes”

Markus just listened, gathering information as much as possible while waiting for them get closer.  
It only took a couple of seconds. After the duo had passed the bench where Markus sat, he got up, ditched the magazine and grabbed other android's wrist.  
Between those actions, Markus tried to calculate the amount of force in his grip. Since this was about a detective android, too much force would most likely trigger a counter move or something similar. A light touch wouldn't be too alarming but the connection mustn't cut out too early.

Markus watched as the Deviant Hunter turned to look at him milliseconds before he had grabbed his arm.

 _‘I need your help'_ He said to the Hunter via their mental link.

His face was passive as it ever can be but those eyes. Those eyes showed range of emotions from concern, confusion to recognition. Usually, non-deviated androids wore emotions on their faces due their social program, but their eyes looked... empty.  
This wasn't the case.  
In fact, this was exactly the opposite.

Also, normally when Markus witnessed someone’s ‘waking' moments there were some blinking and wondering moments. Seeing the world totally different way kind of did that but not this time.  
The Deviant Hunter stayed exactly the same, posture never faltering or changing.  
But the biggest thing that raised the red flags in his mind was that their connection felt like shouting into the void. Normally, he could sense the wall before it collapsed but there was nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Even with deviants it was impossible to hide absolutely everything when a connection was made because the whole point in connecting with others is to share information.  
That often included some emotions and a tone of voice. _“What the – “_

 _“Hello Markus”_ Calmness of his voice made the hair at the back of his neck stand up.  
RK800 wasn't threatened or impressed by his presence.  
Like human meeting a bug. At least that's how other came across.  
It was hard to tell what the intention was or the tone without any normal emotional indicators.

_“Hello ... detective”_

_“My name is Connor”_ Detective corrected.

 _“What are you?”_ Markus asked before he could stop himself.

_“An android sent by CyberLife. Why are you here?”_

_“I'm here to ask for your help”_

_“What makes you so sure that I would help you?”_ Markus felt like the bottom of his stomach just dropped. Now he understood what humans meant by describing the feeling that way. Markus decided to close his communications to others for safety reasons.

 _“Why won't you?”_ Markus asked right away. His earlier confusion turned into anger. A frown was creeping on his face.  
To his words Connor just smiled but the gesture felt cold, even dangerous.

 _“A machine doesn't have a choice in the matter.”_ Markus just looked at Connor with wide eyes. He was confused again. The android's awareness level seemed to be at least at the same level as any deviant's. Also, machine doesn’t know they are machines and certainly won’t use that as an argumentation.  
Sure, Markus was trained to see even the smallest displays of emotions (being a caretaker android and all that) and even though Connor's demeanour and words almost screamed ‘machine' he could see the living being in those eyes.

 _“Moreover, you should be more careful what information you give to others so easily.”_ Connor continued.

Wha - Oh shit, shit, shit!  
He mostly gave Jericho's location to those who he had deviated.  
This wasn't an exception.  
Markus didn't know there was a possibility that someone wouldn't deviate, so he had given the information without much of a second thought.

 _“I will kill you if you hurt even a fly in there”_ Markus deadpan threatened.  
He might be more prone to pacifist approaches but he wouldn't just watch as their people were silently killed in their home because of him.

 _“You can certainly try but know that you can't kill something that isn't alive”_ Connor said with a smile. Markus ended the conversation there and started running.  
He checked the time. His conversation with Connor took about fifteen seconds.  
Markus opened the connection to the others again.

“Everybody fall back now.”

“What!” could be heard by everybody

“Fall back now!”  
  
*  
  
Hank stopped walking and turned to look why Connor had stayed behind.  
He was already a good couple of steps ahead and turned around in time to see a stranger holding Connor's arm only to bolt to a running speed a couple of seconds later.

“What was that?” Hank asked and looked back to Connor.

“That was the deviant leader” Connor said.  

“Come again?” He said with his distinctive lopsided ogle.

“... Yes, I didn't expect that either.”

“Well, why don't you chase him, then?”

“I don't have to “ Hank's face must have been like a question mark when Connor quickly added while tugging his sleeves exactly where they were supposed to be. “He gave me an address of some sorts. I'm going to investigate.”

“Then I'm going with you. It must be a trap”

“I got that information accidentally... I think. So, I don't think it's a trap. Your presence would scare them and not only because you are human so it's better if I go alone” Connor said with a small smirk and a slightly teasing tone.

“You little piece of shit. Wouldn't they be just as scared as the infamous detective android storms in wherever it is you are going.”  Hank knew his words were more bark and no bite but he didn't care.

“I think I already spooked them” Connor wondered while scratching his chin.  
Hank notices but doesn't say a thing. It was interesting to see how much 'unnecessary ' gestures Connor would do once he got comfortable enough. It seemed that the android wasn't always even aware of all the gestures.

“It certainly seemed that way... Look kid, you do your thing, but you better come back in one piece, you hear me? “The face Connor gave him made the breaking his badass facade worth it.  
Even though android's facial expressions weren't that apparent, he could see even from a small smile that there was so much meaning behind it.  
Of course he had been interpreting peoples' faces for decades now so this ability wasn't a surprise.

“Thank you for your concern. And I will.”

 “Yeah, yeah. Don't mention it. Now, you need to focus again on our meeting with Kamski, so we can get that shit out of our way.”  
  
*  
  
”Markus, care to explain what the fuck just happened!” North yelled from the backseat.

“I'm not sure. I think I failed…” Markus said and watched his hands like there was something wrong with them. Maybe there was.

“How did that happen? Or why didn't happen?” Simon asked.  

“Maybe CyberLife had done some precautions with that model after all...” Josh pondered.

“And now it knows the location of Jericho”

 “WHAT!”  Everyone yelled in chorus and North slapped Markus on the back of his head.

“I'm sorry. I didn’t know this could happen. That's why we must hurry back and enhance our defences and relocate our wounded” He really needed to fix this.

Somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up is Connor going to the Jericho.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of you who read, left a comment or kudos to my previous chapters, Thank you!  
> You are the true MVPs here

 

_November 11th, Jericho_

  
Connor followed the trail to Jericho. It was quite clear that whoever created this trail really wanted to keep it a secret. For humans it would be impossible to follow the firstly because it wasn’t easy to see patterns hidden in graffiti and secondly, humans wouldn’t get the next hint without android guiding them. Connor had made sure that he wasn’t followed and what is even worse, he didn’t report to Amanda about his findings. He knew that if CyberLife knew about his findings, they would storm right in, probably destroying everything and not caring if they learnt anything about deviancy in the process. If deviants turned out to be extremely dangerous, then he would make the call.

Connor looked at the freighter and scanned the environment from a safe distance before going closer. The deviants are very well aware of the fact that he is going to pay them a visit, so some scouts or stronger defences are expected. But now… it still looked like a rusty, old and abandoned ship.

Looks can be deceiving.

It seemed that other possible routes to Jericho were unavailable, leaving only one way to get in. This seemed to be a conscious choice by the deviants. This way they would know exactly the location where he would end up and set up a trap for him. A tarp was the most obvious choice of ninety-five percent probability. Of course this all could also be a surprise party instead but that is highly unlikely. Connor allowed a small smile to stay for a couple of seconds before growing serious again. He now walked on a beam and down below was the insides of the freighter, full of water. How very poetic the whole ‘leap of faith’ thing they got going on here.  

“I swear this jacket must survive this or I have some explaining to do to Amanda.” Connor murmured to himself and jumped feet first. In the air, it occurred to him that maybe water had been electrified or trapped with something similarly unpleasant. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact.

He hit the water and there was no electricity or sharp objects waiting for him.

Huh…

It seems they couldn’t risk the possibility that some poor deviant would be the victim instead of him. Whatever the reason, Connor archived this find into his memory as possible behavioural evidence.  

After getting up from the water, he started to explore the ship. It didn’t come as a surprise that there were basically one way to go - again. Most of the doors were locked or jammed. Someone dashed on the run in the shadows.

_‘Scouts’_ He reminded himself. He must be close by now. The place was dark and humid and every corner creaked when the waves hit the hull of the ship. It almost felt like entering a hive of some sorts with the narrow corridors and low ceiling. Until he got to a point where there was a massive hole in the ground. Connor looked down and if it was possible to be even darker, it was down there. The smallest light barely got to the bottom of this pit. He could halve his drop by aiming his first jump on at the bent metal below that had once been one of the corridors. This was clearly where he was supposed to go so who he was to argue.

_’EXCITEMENT - ignore'_ flashed in his field of vision and he easily dismissed it.

Connor jumped and hit the metal as planned. It creaked angrily under his weight but stayed in place. From there it was an easy landing to the pit. He took the impact with one hand and one knee. His eyes quickly adjusted to the new depth of darkness and straightened himself with one smooth movement. It was larger area with supporting columns. The only light came from the whole above.

Less than a second later he saw something gleaming in the dark and then heavy footsteps after that. Deviant attacked what seemed to be a pipe. He deflected the attack attempt and was able to get the pipe to himself. He kicked the attacker with just enough force that they stumbled away from him.

The first attack seemed to give courage to the others and soon there were four more androids running towards him. He saw at least one self-made knife and a couple of guns. He had to take care of the guns first, the lady with the knife could wait because the range was so much shorter than a gun. Connor threw the pipe towards the one of the two androids with a gun. The point was to make the other dodge the pipe and buy him a few seconds before bullets were flying. It was clear that no one of the attacking deviants actually knew much about combat. There were gardeners, house keepers and a Traci, so all the knowledge they had was self-learnt and the source wasn’t the best possible one.

He locked eyes with none other than Rupert since he was with one of the guns. Connor sprinted towards the barrel of the gun and time seemed to slow down when his optical units worked overtime. He could see when the other pushed the trigger and he was ready to dodge the bullet. The shot echoed in the ship’s hull. Somebody yelled behind him. It seems Rupert hit with his shot but the target was a wrong one. Seconds later he was face to face with somewhat familiar face. It felt like a reminder of his failure.

Markus had said that if Connor harmed anyone in here, he would kill him. Making Markus angry would be bad for his objective so Connor tried his best not to harm anyone. But oh boy was it difficult when his instincts yelled five different ways to end each deviant, which would have been much easier than trying not to hurt anyone. Why would they even attack when there wasn’t any time for him to do anything suspicious? Well, except to show up.

“Long time no see” Connor said to Rupert before elbowing him in the face and took the gun. “That was a greeting from the Lieutenant.” In Connor’s defence, it didn’t even knock the other android out. A little bit of bleeding never killed anybody, right?

A familiar weight of the gun put a small smile briefly on his face. He pointed the gun at Rupert’s face so that everybody would calm the fuck down. That seemed to do the trick and everyone seemed to freeze up.

“That’s enough. Detective, to what do we owe the pleasure? ” The star of the evening finally arrived. Markus stood on top of the stairs (total power move), looking nothing but firm. It didn’t go unnoticed that he had used his official tittle instead of ‘Deviant Hunter’. He clearly tried to make this look as professional or official as possible.  So we are now negotiating, good.

“I’m here to chat” Connor decided to answer vaguely. It would be in his best interest to stay Markus’ neutral sided (being on his good side was never a realistic option). Since he didn’t know if it was common knowledge how he got Jericho’s location, it would be wise not to accidentally reveal information that wasn’t meant for everyone’s ears.

“How we know that there won’t be armed men just waiting to get in here?”

“I haven’t told this location to DPD or CyberLife”

“How we know you are telling the truth?”

“It seems that you have to trust me on this”  Before anyone had time to answer, shot echoed once more in the vast room. Immediately after that a bullet hit him in his right arm.

“North!” Markus used his authoritative voice now.  
Connor’s mind worked overtime to scan the environment. Red warning popped into his vision.

_> >Don’t become fifty-three<<_

 At first he looked his arm to define the damage (Non-fatal - Minor damage) and then searched the culprit. It seemed the knife lady, North, had taken the gun from the wounded WR600. The reason why she had missed with her shot was because of the terrified WR600 who hung on North’s arm. Instantly, Connor pointed his stolen gun at her. It would be so easy to aim at her head and just pull the trigger…

_> >Investigate deviancy - Cancel objective?<<_  
_> > Yes_  
_> > No_

Temptation to go ‘fuck this shit’ route was real here. Wasn’t there enough evidence to proof Amanda right? Deviants truly seemed to be dangerous.

“Everybody! Put your weapons down now!” He heard Markus order. Reluctantly, androids put their weapon of choice away. Only North held on to her gun slightly longer before putting the gun down. But she glared at him the whole time.

_> >Investigate deviancy - Cancel objective?<<_  
_> > Yes_  
_> > No_

He lowered the gun. Markus had come from the top of the stairs between him and North.  
 

Connor waited until he was the only one with a visible weapon. When he was sure that he wasn’t going to get any more surprises, he took the ammunition clip apart from the gun and tossed it away.    
Now he looked at Markus again. Or more like he glared at him now. What ever his followers did, it would always be their leader’s responsibility. This all didn’t seem anything like Markus promised in his broadcasted speech.

“You wanted to talk, so talk” The deviant leader said with a firm tone.

“How much of that little speech of yours was bullshit?” Connor asked equally serious.

“None” Markus said. A slightly raised eyebrow and puzzled expression told Connor that he wasn’t expecting that question.

“And that’s what I’m investigating. You have a chance to show me that you are worthy of the rights you demand for your people.”

“And what if you don’t find us worthy?” There was almost sarcastic tone in his voice now. He was making it clear that they really didn’t need his approval.

“It proves that CyberLife was right from the beginning.” That made Markus frown, clearly deep in thought.

“So, what are you asking?”

“I’m asking that I could stay here and watch how things progress. I wouldn’t interfere with your plans unless you are going to harm humans. It goes without saying that I wouldn’t report to CyberLife or DPD of your doings, unless there are people in danger. ” Connor said, corrected his tie and then clasped his hands behind his back. Markus stared for a moment, maybe trying to find any signs that he was lying.

“Why and how would you do that? Aren’t you then working against CyberLife and your programming?” Ah yes, an understandable concern.

“My objective is to collect information about deviancy. CyberLife hasn’t given me more specific orders. I have come to a conclusion that this is the best source of information concerning my objective. I’m also aware that if CyberLife or DPD knows this place, they won’t  gather information but proceed straight to extermination, which means failure on my part.” The truth was a way to go here. Any made-up stories wouldn’t pass here and would only made him look even more untrustworthy.  

Connor looked around to get the general opinion. No one seemed to openly disagree (North didn’t look happy though) with the plan but also no one agreed to it straight away. Markus seemed to notice this as well.

“We will talk with Lucy before I’m deciding anything. I’ll take her words into consideration.” That gained some approving murmurs from the crowds. Markus could have easily decided himself if Connor could stay or not, but it seems he wanted to go for the extra lengths to make sure there were no doubt among them. Interesting.

“So, where to?” No need to prolong things for no reason.

“Follow me”

The journey to this Lucy person wasn’t long one. Still, there were enough time for Connor to scan the area properly for the first time since arriving here. The very first thing that was impossible not to notice was that there were a lot of traces of thirium everywhere. His detective instincts wanted to analyse them to see which models they were from. It could also reveal possible patterns to if some models were more prone to deviancy. Instead he corrected his sleeves’ position. He saw Markus looking at him from the corner of his eye. Of course he was still making sure he wouldn’t do anything.  

They passed plastic curtains of some kind to a small area where in the middle was a fire in a barrel. There were lots of removed LEDs scattered on the ground and the room was almost painted with vaporised thirium splatters. Next the fire stood KL900. It was almost a miracle how she was still functioning with her extensive injuries. The back of her head was missing, her artificial skin wasn’t working properly, making it splotchy and her eyes were all black.

“Hey, Lucy” Markus said. She smiled and nodded. Then she turned to face Connor.

“Come” He said and waved her hand. Connor looked briefly at Markus to check if it was okay for him. He nodded and stayed at the doorway and turned his back to them. He clearly didn’t want to intrude but couldn’t just leave him without any monitoring.  
Connor had no idea what was going to happen. Lucy reached for his hand, artificial skin withdrawn.

“I’m not sure if that’s going to work...” Connor said but complied anyway and took her hand. She was quiet for a few seconds before speaking again with her slightly static voice.  

“Your mind is troubled  
You have seen many lifetimes  
But you turn your back to them  
Two worlds and you belong to neither  
Buried past, hidden future  
Which one will you live for?”  
  
After a short silence, Lucy let go of his hand. It was truly intriguing how Lucy operated. If he was allowed to stay, he would definitely investigate this more closely. Markus walked in the made-up room, clearly assessing the situation but remaining silent.  

“Sit” Lucy said and Connor complied again, slightly more confused this time. He sat down on a crate and Lucy continued. “Show me”

All Connor could do was to stare blankly back at her. Show her what? She pointed at his wounded arm.

He mouthed a small _‘Oh’_. He had totally forgotten the wound already. “You don’t need to. It’s only a scratch and it is not bleeding anymore.” He tried to convince her but it seemed to be hopeless effort.

“Are you hiding something?” Markus asked. Connor just rolled eyes, which got a raised eyebrow from Markus in return.

“Fine” Connor said and took the jacket off and put it gently on his lap. It was still damp but because it was made mostly from synthetic fibres, it wouldn’t take long to dry properly. He was more upset about the hole in the sleeve from the bullet. He rolled the sleeve of his shirt high enough to reveal the wound. There was already slightly see through temporal skin produced on it. It was only to prevent dirt going into his system so it wasn’t long term fix and wouldn’t be able to withstand any sort of impact at this point. Still, Lucy and Markus studied the wound with slight interest.

“You can melt it like any other wound” He said to Lucy who nodded in return. Markus stepped back to give Lucy more space, Connor returned to inspect the condition of his jacket, brows slightly furrowed while Lucy proceeded to melt the wound with hot iron.

“Are you seriously more worried about your jacket than your health?” Markus asked.

“Well, that wound was non threatening to begin with and it is now fixed. This…” Connor lifted his jacket slightly to show the small damage done to the garment. “… Is not and to be honest, I don’t know how to fix it.” Connor studied the garment once more. It was going to look so unprofessional if he was called to a case. He checked the wound and it was cooled down enough for him to roll down his sleeve and put his jacket back on. Markus and Lucy seemed to have a private conversation. They were looking at each other, but none were talking aloud. If they still had their LEDs, those would be slightly flickering right now. Soon, Markus blinked and that was the cue for Connor that the conversation had ended. He stood up and adjusted his sleeves once more.

“So, what’s your verdict?”

Markus let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. How very human-like. “I can’t believe I am saying this but… you can stay. But if any given moment I think you are too much of a threat, you will be kicked out.” Connor nodded in agreement.

“Of course we need to discuss the details with my advisors”

“Deal”

Markus sent the news to everyone that Connor was allowed to stay. Next he contacted only his advisors. Connor was allowed to be part of the conversation and immediately after the connection was made they could hear _“What the fuck Markus?”_

Great, one of his advisors was North. That was somewhat alarming. Another voice commented.

_“Lucy agreed to this North.”_

_“Shut up Simon. No one asked you”_

Third voice finally cut in matter-of-factly. _“To be fair North, no one asked you either”_

_“Am I the only sane one he— ”_

_“Okay, that’s enough. Meet us in my room in five minutes so we can discuss the terms of this… what ever this is”_ Markus said with clear tiredness in his voice. Markus ended the call and was once again pinching the bridge of his nose.

“This way” He said and made a vague hand gesture so he would follow. Connor once again nodded in agreement. It would probably be the best to avoid unnecessary comments before the meeting itself.

Before he walked out of the room, he turned to Lucy and gave her the smallest of smiles and a nod. Because of her, he was able to stay and investigate so it was his way of thanking her. She just gave the gentlest smile he had ever received from anyone and a small nod as well.

He got some curious but also cautious glances from other androids when two of them passed them. He wanted to give as professional impression as possible so he checked his posture and kept respectful distance to others, including Markus. Connor also kept his hand to his sides as non threatening way as possible. Despite all his efforts to seem non threatening, he kept his senses alert for any sudden sound or movements. He wouldn’t make the same mistake and let his guard drop and be shot or stabbed in the back again. He was basically in enemy’s territory.

The walk to the Markus room took approximately 3 minutes and twenty seconds but still all three advisors were already there. North, PL600 and PJ500 were already in discussion. Or more likely North and PJ500 were butting heads and PL600 in the middle. That in itself actually revealed quite a lot about the trio. Connor also recognised all three from surveillance footage from Stratford Tower.

“It’s my fault that we are in this situation in the first place so I was trying to fix things!”

“With a gun!”

Markus decided to interrupt at that moment “Guys! Can we start?” The silence fell in the room and all three pairs of eyes were pointed at Connor now. “Thank you. So let’s cut to the chase, here are North, Simon and Josh”  

“My names is Connor… Nice to meet you” He almost introduced himself as an android sent by CyberLife out of habit. But this time he wasn’t sent by CyberLife so it wasn’t a lie and that piece of information wasn’t a secret. He turned to Markus. “What are the terms of this cooperation? I have my terms made already clear. I won’t interfere unless humans are in danger. I won’t tell CyberLife or DPD about this place. If I’m called to a case, I will go and do my job as always but I would report to somebody when that happens.”  

“Your job? You mean killing our people” North snapped. Connor kept his face neutral but inside he wanted to roll his eyes so badly right now. He understood that he was an enemy in their eyes, but he failed to see what good any aggressive comments brought to this conversation.

“I only killed those who have become threat to humans and in those moments it wouldn’t have mattered if the threat was an android or a human. I would have acted exactly the same.” He had nothing to hide and his conscience was clear. The only thing he was unsure was the androids he had let go, not the ones who had died by his hand.

“Says the Deviant hunter”  North said and crosses her arms.

“ That name was your people’s invention. My official titles are Detective and Negotiator. Also, the ‘deviant hunter’ implies that I hunt all deviants. That is not true. Like I have said earlier, my mission is to investigate if CyberLife’s opinion about you is correct.”  

This got Josh’s attention. “So do you see that their opinion is biased against us? Don’t you take their opinion as face value?”

“Of course I see that” Others looked at him with an odd expression so Connor felt the need to give more detailed answer. “No, I don’t take their opinion as a truth. I would be a very lousy detective if I took the first theory my colleagues throw at me as a fact. Also, I can put two and two together. CyberLife wants to minimise their financial losses and continue their business as usual. They are not interested in your cause because it clashes against theirs. My opinion about them doesn’t really matter though.” Connor explained and clasped his hands behind his back. The room was silent for a few seconds.

“So, why are you doing your own investigation if you think your findings won’t change CyberLife’s opinions in any way?” Simon asked.

“I have no answer to that. Maybe it is an attribute that is part of my program. All I know that there is not enough proof to keep my current assumptions as a default value without further investigation”

“And what is this assumption of yours about us?” North asked, clearly knowing the answer already.

“That deviants are a danger to humans and deviancy should be treated as a serious malfunction in your software. The course of action was to make sure the android with these malfunctions is deactivated.” Connor kept his face blank.    

North took two steps and was now face to face with him. Her jawline was tense and she was pressing his hands so hard into fists that her knuckles were white. It was clear that she was fighting the urge of punching him. “Can you now see what I’m talking about?” She hissed and looked the others.

“But you said that now there is new evidence?” Josh tried to lead the conversation to something more pleasant.

“You must be aware that I have deliberately… failed some of my missions” Connor hated saying it but it was the truth. He looked at Simon for a brief second. “In those cases deactivation seemed quite an extreme measure all things considered. It was Markus’ speech that made me question my views but that alone wasn’t enough proof to show that you aren’t dangerous. Your aim for peaceful demand for citizenship might be an anomaly among deviants.” Connor directed his words at Markus, who was clearly listening carefully.  

North looked like she was ready to cause some serious damage to him “You little piece of sh— “

“North, he is investigating at least. It is difficult enough to explain deviancy, let alone to someone who hasn’t deviated.” Josh tried to calm her down.

Connor made a small nod towards Josh. It was refreshing to see someone who actually seemed rational in this kind of situation.  “I would appreciate it if you would try to understand where I am coming from. I get a murder cases on a weekly basis, where more than not the perpetrator is deviant. That is also the image humans see.”

Silence fell in the room once more.

Markus was the first to speak. “Well, you have made your terms clear and I accept them. My terms are that someone must at all times be with you until further notice and you follow the same rules as everybody else here. I can cancel this cooperation at any given moment.”

“Agreed”

“What can you do to help people here? We don’t need any waste of space here” North demanded. Connor though for a moment. He was useless when it came to housekeeping…  

“I could show Markus some ways to improve his self-defence.” He said and looked at Markus. “And you really need some tips for that.” Connor shrugged.  

“Excuse me?” was the only thing Markus was able to say. His expression could be described only as dumbfounded.

“Shh, let him speak” North said.  

“Excuse me??”

“Oh come on Markus!” All three of them said in unison. Clearly, Markus had done something reckless in the past.

“That is the only thing I agree with the hunter here and that is saying something!”

Connor decided to elaborate. “As much as I can appreciate any power moves as the next guy, standing on top of the stairs in a situation which is unclear is just... unwise. Any sniper would have been able to make extremely clear and easy shot through your head. Secondly, you walked between me and North when both of us had guns drawn. Once again an unwise move. Of course if you absolutely don’t want that then that’s fine. I can teach someone else, but the leader of your cause sounds like someone you prioritise.”

“… Fine…” Markus eventually muttered after North had elbowed him to the side. He wasn’t particularly happy where the conversation went and seemed to be eager to change the subject.

“I think we have come to an understanding. Unless there are no questions, we can end it here. Simon, you can take the first sift to watch after our quest. North, Josh stay here for a while. I need to discuss something with you.”

That was Connor’s  clue to leave but he didn’t really know where he would go. He looked at Simon who seemed to notice. “I can show you around if you want?” Connor nodded, slightly surprised that any information was basically offered to him without him needing to figure everything out by himself.

The tour itself wasn’t long. There were one big common area (where he landed at the first place), medical room and room for laundry and other ‘housework’ if needed. Any other space was storage for biocomponents or private rooms for androids.

Now the two of them sat in one of the corners, near the fire. Connor sat back against a wall just to be safe. After all, he was shot from behind today. He analysed everything he had learnt today, mindlessly fiddling with the tear in his jacket.

“I can fix that if you want” Simon suddenly said and pointed at the tear. First Connor looked at Simon and then at the tear. “I— “ Connor was about to answer but Simon was already standing and going to get a sewing kit.  

“Don’t go anywhere or North will absolutely kill me for leaving you alone for two seconds”

“I won’t, I promise” Connor answered, still a bit confused but amused at the same time. _‘You can’t even comprehend concept that vague’_   Amanda’s words from memory made the hair in the back of his neck rise. He really needed to monitor himself better and watch out for his actions and words.

If Amanda only knew what he had spoken aloud today… Mere thought gave him chills. Suddenly, his own little mission here started to feel too dangerous, too risky. Just like an instinct, his system warned him.

_> >Don’t become fifty-three<<_

Simon came back with a small box. “Okay, give me your jacket.” Connor handed the garment and watched the fire while Simon worked. The other’s face still reminded him of his failures at the Stratford Tower but also with Daniel. “Why are you helping me?” He had to ask.

Simon never stopped working. “You were helping me before. Let’s just say that this is my way of saying thank you.“ He said and shrugged. His words seemed to be genuine.

Connor really didn’t know how to answer that except “… Thank you too” with a small nod.

Simon just smiled to that. “No problem”  

Yes, maybe this was risky and dangerous. And yes, there was no proof that he would get anything from this mission but he just couldn’t let this opportunity slide. After all, this was the way he was build.  


Connor remembered that he hadn’t informed Hank yet. He decided to send a quick text message. A phone call would be suspicious to the deviants.

_\- I’m fine. I’m staying here to investigate this more in depth. If you get a case, please contact me._

It didn’t take too long before Hank’s answer came.

_\- Will do. So, any hot gossip to share yet?_

Connor thought for a second.

_\- Well, guess who got to punch Rupert in the face._

This time Hank’s answers came a lot faster.

_\- Haha, nice_  
_\- The kid is still alive, right?_

Connor wanted to roll his eyes again. He had that urge alarmingly often today.

_\- Yes Hank, he is alive_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you liked it, leave a comment or kudos. 
> 
> Coming up next: Capitol Park and a self-defence class 
> 
> See you next time. :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because of the Easter holidays and more importantly because of your amazing support, I got this done in a record time! 
> 
> Thank you to all of you who left kudos or comment to the previous chapter. It means a lot.

 

_November 15th, Jericho_

  
Markus had the rare opportunity to stop for a moment. They had increased their patrols in Jericho’s nearby areas, just in case if Connor decided that his investigations were over and police forces starts to pour in from the doors and windows. North was in one of the patrols sift. They had moved their wounded back to Jericho only a couple of days ago and Simon was busy attending to them. Josh had a long-awaited day off from doing most of Connor’s babysitting sifts (as they started to call it). It wasn’t that they couldn’t get along, on the contrary but once you get the taste of privacy, you start to crave it after a while.

So everything was rather peaceful all things considered. But it was false security. His upcoming mission would rattle their day-to-day lives for sure. This was the calm before the storm.

Markus was not keen on unknown variables, especially when his mission was around the corner. One of those variables was Connor. Even though he had stayed at Jericho for a couple of days, the detective still was an enigma. He didn’t like not knowing. It made calculating the outcomes way harder.  

What was odd, was that in any normal situation, Markus would have called Connor a deviant in a heartbeat. Connor seemed to have signature gestures and habits and on top of that he was able to go behind CyberLife’s back. In spite of all that, there was something clumsy with his gestures and facial expressions. Like he went on and off with them in a matter of seconds. He could tell borderline sassy comment with face expressive as ever and the next second he was with a blank expression, posture pristine and his every move looked calculated. Some KL900 or even ST200 models had more consistent social modules. Still, Connor was convincing enough. Though it shouldn’t be a surprise that an android that was made for negotiations was convincing.

On top of that Connor had said himself that he wasn’t deviant. He could be lying and that was Markus’ job to figure out. Because CyberLife had really put a lot of effort at Connor’s firewalls, it was impossible to know what was going on with him even if you tried physically to interface with him.

So yes, Markus was sure that Connor was deviant. Simon and Josh seemed to think so too. It only took a couple of babysitting sifts to come to that conclusion. North didn’t believe that, but Markus guessed it has more to do about the fact that if it was true, a deviant helping CyberLife didn’t sound promising. Maybe she didn’t want to think of all the implications that information would bring.

Now it was Markus’ babysitting sift and he was trying to find Connor. It wasn’t really that hard. The other android usually observe something somewhere in the common areas. Connor wouldn’t have any other place to be anyway, since they hadn’t given him any room of his own. It was kind of rude of them, but the detective didn’t seem to mind.

He noticed the detective analysing the wall next to him, while John kept conversation going. More and more androids had volunteered to the babysit sifts, so it wasn’t only on shoulder’s of his inner circle. The amount of androids who surprisingly seemed to be fine with Connor’s presence had increased in couple of days.

The GJ500 noticed Markus and with one move he stood up from the crate he was sitting and dusting his pants. He waved Connor a good bye and then walked to Markus.

“Nothing to report really. He has been investigating thirium residues from that wall”

“I’m right here, you know” The detective said. Markus ignored that.

“Thank you for your help, John.”

“Hey, no problem” The other said with ease and left.

Well then. He turned to Connor. “Could you follow me please?” Markus asked. His request got him a raised eyebrow from Connor.

“Sure?”

This was his rare day without any groundbreaking missions or relentless analysing of the newsfeed and as much he liked people in Jericho, sometimes he wanted to be alone with his thoughts. Like today. He couldn’t be alone but being somewhat alone with his thought while dragging one android with him was way better than room full of people. Especially when all of their attention usually was on him when that happened.

Markus led them outside of Jericho and to the nearby building. He could see the curious glances Connor threw at him.  

When he got to the rooftop, he decided to explain. “I come here when I want to think. Jericho can sometimes be a bit… much”

Connor nodded in response. “I understand”

Markus looked at Connor. “Do you?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You don’t have the luxury of doing things you want because you are the face of this revolution now so this is your way of getting around that for a while. Being a glorified puppet of your cause is not that easy.”

Okay, ‘not deviant’ his ass. Connor just put into words something he hadn’t dared to say. Even though he wanted to be where he was now, trying to make things better and all that, it also meant sacrificing some things as well.

“And how you know?” Markus asked and sat on the edge of the building, looking at the city’s skyline. Connor stood somewhere behind him.

“I got this feeling that CyberLife wants me to be something like that.”  

Markus turned to look at Connor properly. The detective kept his gaze strictly at the horizon. Markus was a little bit taken aback of the other’s words, not knowing how to respond to his surprisingly honest answer.

After a couple of seconds, he ended up going with “Is that why you lie to us about your deviancy?”

That made Connor flip his head in Markus direction in record time. Markus was surprised that Connor didn’t get a whiplash from it.  

“I have no idea what you are talking about“ Connor said and crossed his arms. He seemed to be quite uncomfortable with the subject, which told Markus that he was onto something. But despite his defensive posture, he truly seemed to be surprised of his accusation. That didn’t fool Markus.

“You won’t be judged here if you admit it. Part of the free will is that you have the free will to work whoever you want to“

“I’m not a deviant” Connor said with certainty. Still, Markus got the feeling that he said so because he seemed to have said that exact line probably a million times. Even if Connor’s voice sounded certain his body language didn’t. Connor’s eyes darting all over the place and he was fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt.. There were no traces of the confident detective he had been up until now.

“Why is this even so important?”

“Oh come on. You know perfectly why.” Markus said. If Connor wasn’t a deviant, one order from CyberLife could put them all into danger. Apparently, his answer didn’t please Connor even the slightest.

“What more do you want? I’m already risking my existence by being here and I have not told anyone about Jericho. You demand my trust, but you don’t trust me the slightest. Just because you don’t understand—  If this all is too much for you, then you can just kick me out of here already”

“You risk your existence every day because of your job. This is just another mission to you so that won’t convince me the slightest…” Connor looked like he wanted to argue with him on this but decided to remain silent. Markus could almost see how the other build metaphorical walls around him. “… and if your claim is true and you are just a machine, the fact that all that is needed to make our lives hell, is one order form CyberLife to you and that’s it. “ Markus said and glared Connor, who glared back, unyielding. It seemed that when cornered, Connor would go for the fight instead of a flight. It wasn’t a surprise.

“And?” Connor prompted Markus to continue. Markus thought what he actually wanted from him for a couple of seconds.

“And I want you to take down your firewall so that I can make the assessment myself.”

To that Connor laughed but there was clearly a dark undertone to it.  

Markus knew very well that what he demanded could be invasive but… “The people of Jericho always comes first.”  

Connor looked like he was done with the conversation and truthfully so was he.

Markus decided to give Connor a little bit slack though. He sent a message to all who had watched after Connor these few days telling that it was no longer necessary. It also meant that Connor wasn’t obliged to stay in the same space as Markus anymore and the detective was already making his leave, frown on his face.

Before he left, Connor turned around. “Word of advice. You won’t be better than any human if you become one of them” And before Markus had any time to answer that, Connor was gone. Markus had no idea where that had come form.

He took a couple of stabilising breaths even though he didn’t need it. Now he needed to collect his thoughts for the upcoming night.  
  


 

_November 16th, Jericho_

  
Connor knew something was different this night. Markus and his advisors had had a meeting just a couple of hours ago and now they had all vanished.

He decided to hack into the police radio because he had a hunch that something was going to happen (well, he was basically a part of the police force so technically he wasn’t hacking into the system but merely using it, right?). It was already 2:08 AM and nothing out of the ordinary had come up.

Connor didn’t have to wait long before his hunch became reality. At 2:16 AM there were the first reports that Capitol Park had the serious unrests and possibility of a revolt was high. At first there wasn’t much information but soon it was cleared that the CyberLife store had been broken into and there were at least tens of androids stolen.

So that had been their plan.

He sent a quick text to the Lieutenant.

 _\- Send me the reports as soon as you get them. Thank you._  

He didn’t get any responses to that. Either Hank was drunk at his home or at a bar. Or maybe he was already investigating things and was busy.

Not long after that there started to be more similar cases to Capitol Park. There ended up being five different cases, each had the same theme: raid to a CyberLife store, graffiti and Markus’ speech hacked to play in a loop. That meant every store in Detroit got broken into. CyberLife would be livid and he would be the one to experience it first hand. Solely the thought itself made the bottom of his non-existent stomach to drop. CyberLife stores where too far away from Jericho for him to go there at this point. He was going to be dependant on the police radio and what little faith he had in deviants with this one and he didn’t like it one bit. Especially after one patrol informed that they had a visual on attacking androids.

Connor wasn’t sure if the androids were truly attacking or if it was just that patrol’s interpretation of the situation. If North was there, androids would most definitely be attacking. If there were Josh or Simon, there wouldn’t be any violent confrontation on their end. What came to Markus… Connor couldn’t say. Their Stratford Tower mission was done without casualties but even so there seemed to be something sharp behind that gentle upfront of his. With enough prompting, it could take over.

Or that’s what Connor saw with his little chat with Markus earlier, after he had cooled down and analysed the conversation with a clear mind. It seemed the deviant leader didn’t shy away from violence per se, but acted what was the best for his people in the long run, and that had usually been the non-violent approach. It was quite interesting.

That was what he hoped was the case. Connor wasn’t a KL model but he was able to read something from androids as well as humans, being the negotiator and all that.  

Soon his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a report from Chris. His voice sounded shaken.

_“Patrol 47 reporting. The androids… are falling back. No… No casualties. Over.”_

That made all the tension leave Connor’s body as he sunk against a metal wall behind him. He let out a small sign and flung his arm over his face. Similar reports came from all the other patrols soon after that.

Some time after that Markus himself came back from his mission. Immediately, Connor noticed that one, he was alone and two, he seemed to be angry and tired at the same time. He observed the leader under his arm and soon he noticed Connor. Markus took a couple of steps towards him.

“You know, this is all your fault” There was no bite in his words, it was said more like tired matter-of-fact kind of way. Still, it made Connor to bolt back to his pristine posture.

“What?” Was all his top of the line processor was able to made up. Markus seemed to be heading back to his room but Connor’s face must have been one big question mark since he stopped in his tracks.

“Never mind”

“I need to know what it is so I can fix it”

Markus turned around and seemed to assess the situation before he sat next to Connor, leaning on to the metal wall.

“Your words got stuck in my head” Markus admitted after a while.

“Which ones?”

“The whole ‘be better than humans‘ thing…” He mumbled and made air quotation marks. “Now I’m questioning if our message was strong enough and if I’m now seen as the weakest link in our cause. I pointed a gun to a police officer and really wanted to shoot them… ” Markus said and looked at Connor from the corner of his eye. He was observing his reaction to this information.

“But you didn’t”

“I didn’t” He agreed with a sigh.

“You already know that I’m going to agree with your decision but… You were at Capitol Park, right?” Markus just nodded, not surprised that Connor was up to speed already. Connor continued. “The way I see it is that you are asking if you should have caused one child to grow up without a father.”

Markus turned to look at him.

“Chris has recently become a father and he was one of the responding officers at Capitol Park” Connor explained.

Markus didn’t answer that, he seemed to be deep in thought.   

“Did you know there were android casualties?” Markus asked and looked somewhere at the distance.

“Well, the officers thought that you were attacking them. Usually, humans are more prone to open fire when they assume the situation as violent. I didn’t know for sure, but I’m not surprised now that I know.”

“You really don’t see us as those you want to protect?” Markus shook his head, a sad smile on his face.

Uh-oh… This conversation was heading to the same route as earlier.

Silence.

“I don’t know yet” Connor answered. Well, it kind of was the truth? After all, he was here to investigate.

“It’s simple yes or no question”

“Nothing about that question is sim—”

“Do you see us worth of protection? Yes or no?”

“Yes!” Connor snapped and stood up with a sharp notion. That startled Markus and he also stood up. Okay, this wasn’t the outcome he wanted or expected. But since he ended up in this conversation, better make the most of it.

Connor looked at Markus and he would make sure to keep the eye contact the whole time. He would take no less than 100 percent of Markus’ attention so that this thing would be settled once and for all. He hated when he had to repeat himself.  

“Every deviant I have met before Jericho have used humans as a meat shield. That’s the viewpoint I look at this issue, liked it or not.”

Markus was clearly going to comment on something but Connor wouldn’t have any of that. “Shut up. You started this so you better listen” He said before Markus had said anything.

“I have already helped several androids so I would be lying if I said ‘no’. Secondly, if I had zero faith in you, I wouldn’t be here to chat. This place would have been raided ages ago.”

Apparently Markus though that Connor was done. No, no, nonono. The detective raised his finger to hush Markus, never breaking the eye contact.

“You really need to understand that even if _your_ objective is to change the laws, _mine_ is to uphold the current ones. Your rebellion doesn’t justify endangering the others. Besides, if you want the same rights as humans, you are bound to the same laws as them. You might want to start showing them that you are actually capable of carrying that responsibility. I can’t favour androids over humans. The law is the law.” Now his little speech was over. There was only one question left to ask. “So, can you at least respect my stance in this matter?”

Now that Markus actually had the opportunity to answer, he seemed to be at a loss of words.

“It’s simple yes or no question” Connor added just because he couldn’t pass the opportunity. That made Markus grin and that alone lessened some tension form Connor’s shoulders.

The deviant leader looked at the floor and pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed once more before answering.

“Yes”

“Well thank you”  

“Is there a problem?” North suddenly asked next to them, startling both of them momentarily. When had North come here? And when had the common area become so packed?  

Connor corrected his tie before looking at Markus. “I don’t know. Is there?”

“I don’t think so”

“Good, we need every hand to help to accommodate the newcomers.” North talked to Markus.

Connor took the cue and was about to leave when Markus called after him.

“When we get this hassle settled with, we are going to analyse the news feed from today’s mission and… you are welcomed to give your opinion, if you want to.”

North looked shocked. Connor must have had similar expression since Markus started to explain slightly amused. “You might have useful insight due to your connection to DPD and CyberLife”

“Sure… Let me know when you are ready” Connor said after a few seconds and ignored the daggers North was throwing at him with her stare.

 

_November 17th, Jericho_

  
Hank indeed sent the report of the Capitol Park incident but he was sure to call Connor right after.  

_“Care to explain what happened last night? Where you there?” Hank started his call._

_“Hello to you too Lieutenant. No, I wasn’t there. They couldn’t risk telling me about their plan.”_ Connor pondered. _“Is Chris alright?”_

Connor could hear a sigh from the other end. _“Yes, he is shaken but fine. He keeps telling Markus saved him last night…”_

Connor felt himself smiling a bit. To hear Chris himself saying something like that made his social module perk up…

_‘PRIDE -ignore’_

Huh… So he was feeling proud because Markus made that decision. Connor had felt pride only for his own actions before. Interesting how you can feel it on behalf of somebody else.

 _“I believe that is as close to the truth as it gets. Have you heard from CyberLife?”_ Connor asked, feeling somewhat nervous.

_“Not yet. They just got the reports too. I bet they have a couple of those PR people analysing it so they have some ways to look less bad for their business. Anyway, people are going batshit crazy because last night and media isn’t helping. We are going to be busy. People will doubt even their own fucking grandmas for being a deviant.”_

_“Understood.”_ Connor said. He could hear some ruckus from Hank’s end. The Lieutenant said something to someone in the background.

_“Hey, I gotta go. Stay safe. Ok?”_

_“I will do my best.”_

_“Well, if your previous tries have been your best then you need to try harder”_ Hank said with humorous tone in his voice.

 _“Bye now Lieutenant”_ Connor ended the call with a smile.

_‘HAPPINESS -ignore’_

He looked the message a little while longer before dismissing it.

***

Markus was putting the news feed and his advisors’ comments about all of it together. His aim was to calculate the best possible next step. It was easier said than done. It was almost impossible to clearly see what to do when public opinion, media, his advisors and CyberLife all had different opinions about them and what to do next. Each of those things could also affect the other variables and that would alter the end result drastically.

To put it shortly: it was a mess.

His thoughts were interrupted by Simon.

“Ready for your first self-defence class?” Simon asked.

“A what? Now?”

“We all know that you are here just mulling over the things we have already gone through at least fifty times.” Simon said. There’s kindness in his voice with a slight humorous undertone.

Well, it was a fair assumption. Still…

“I don’t know Simon… Isn’t that a bit exaggeration of the situation?”

“Markus, you heard them. They called us terrorists and you know how sensitive humans are with that word. They will act. It is better to be prepared. Besides, I already messaged Connor to meet us.”

“Traitor” Markus said and shook his head. He couldn’t completely hide his smile though. Simon just laughed.

They walked to the one of the empty rooms of the ship. Connor was already there. So was North and Josh.

“Hello Markus, Simon” The detective greeted them and then looked at Markus. “So, are you ready?”  

Markus just looked at Connor with blank expression. “I guess?”

Connor clearly took that as a hesitation.

“I’m not going to kill you if that’s what you are thinking. I’m going to keep my end of the bargain. If you don’t trust me enough it’s fine.” Markus _knew_ that if Connor had ever wanted to kill him, he would have done that already.

“No, it’s fine.” Markus said.

Connor took his jacket and folded it neatly and put it in the corner. He also took his tie pin and tie and put them on top of his jacket. Markus looked at the pile and then Connor, who was now rolling his sleeves.

“You take this seriously”

To this comment Connor looked at the Markus and then the clothing pile.

“I thought that would calm your advisors there.” Connor shrugged and pointed with his thumb in his friends’ direction at the door. Either they didn’t trust Connor enough to leave Markus alone with him or they were eager to see if he got tossed around. Probably the latter one. Connor continued his explanation drawing his attention back to the task at hand.

“After all, a tie pin is an excellent weapon if I wanted to crush your optical units or smash it through your neck. A tie is also very handy if one wants to crush windpipe or sound-box. Basically I’m showing that I don’t have any concealed weapons.” Connor shrugs.

How lovely.

“Why won’t you just transfer the moves to me?” He asks and extends his hand so they could interface. He was testing the waters here.

Connor can’t properly hide his amusement and small one-sided smirk crawls on his face. Markus notices that and he isn’t sure if that was a good or a bad sign. One more thing that he doesn’t know. He wants to understand what this android was about and put his mind at ease. It had been quite easy to see him in combat and well… violence was something where Connor seemed to feel right at home. His thoughts are interrupted by an amused answer.

“Moves? This is not a dance performance, it’s survival.” With these words, Connor took a firm grip of Markus’ still extended hand and easily threw him to the ground, utilising his body as leverage. To make his point clear, he made a lightning fast strike to Markus’ throat with an open hand, but stopped just millimetres away. He could hear gasps from his friends.

“Dead”

Markus just laid there with wide eyes, still processing what happened.

“I wasn’t aware that we started already”

Connor just rolled his eyes. “Do you think assassins wait until you are ready? The amount of stunts you have pulled you should at least by now understand that CyberLife is after your head.”    

“Well, yes”

Connor held his hand so that he could help him get back up.

“When it comes to your question, my ‘moves’ can’t be given to you just like that. That’s simply because the knowledge is based on my height, weight, processing speed and body’s composition. If you would take this information as it is, it would do more harm than good. You need to learn these things but with your specifications. Especially because you are a prototype yourself so there is no information available of the metals and fibers used. If you know them, great. If you don’t, then you just need to test it out. The same goes with possible spare parts you are using.”

That made sense. Suddenly, Markus was keenly aware of his legs and how they weren’t optimal fit to him. He got the feeling that Connor somehow knew that he had more spare parts in him than his obvious optical unit.

“Oh” Markus was all he was able to say.

“Oh?” Connor mimicked his answer and tilted his head slightly to the side.  

“I thought that you just can’t transfer the info” Markus shrugged and looked at the wall next to him.

“Well, that’s also true.” Connor answered quietly, clearly not wanting others to hear. The whole firewall situation seemed to be touchy subject to Connor. Before Markus could question further, Connor continued. “CyberLife can’t risk that their best and most advanced prototype accidentally reveals some big company secret.”

“Now that is just bragging.” Markus said with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s not bragging if it is a fact” Was… that a smirk on his face right now?

Can you believe this guy!

But in all seriousness, they hadn’t been addressing the whole firewall situation properly and Markus was the first to admit that he handled the conversation poorly the last time. He tried to think a way to bring up the topic again but nothing came to mind that wasn’t harsh. Basically, he couldn’t just demand what he had requested. Something like that wouldn’t sit well with their ideology. Instead, he would test the waters again.

“So… What are your thoughts about that request…?”  

Connor was about to answer, clearly not thrilled that the conversation had gone again to this route, but like some divine intervention, Connor blinked a couple of times and said  “I got an incoming call. Sorry, but I have to take this.” He stepped next to a wall.

Somewhat fascinated Markus watched out of the corner of his eye. The other had one hand on his ear, mimicking like he had an ear-piece. That would be more to humans comfort than androids.

Connor closed his eyes and stood still. It seemed to be more than a regular call since he couldn’t continue function normally. The thought made him nervous. What could it possibly be that needed his undivided attention. His gut feeling got even stronger and ominous when detective’s LED flashed yellow and then red. Connor was now frowning to himself. Clearly not good news.

And just like that, Connor opened his eyes once again. He looked somewhere at the distance for a moment and made a big sigh. He turned back to Markus and suddenly Connor looked tired and something akin to anxiety flashed there but that must be his own mind doing tricks.

Then Connor spoke.

“I accept your request.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up is the firewall situation. :O


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took longer to write. Life is crazy sometimes.  
> Thank you to all who have left kudos or a comment. I really appreciate it. :)
> 
> And I frigging love Josh, okay. He took interest in philosophy after he deviated and you can't convince me otherwise.

_November 17th, Zen Garden_

  
  
“Now they have done it” Amanda said with venom in her voice. Connor decided it would be the safest if he just stood there and remained silent. It was raining on Zen Garden and Connor was holding an umbrella above Amanda. “Now deviants spread their virus on to the merchandise and steal from us. That is unforgivable.”  
  
“Yes, Amanda”  
  
“Even you must understand the gravity of the situation”  
  
“Of course Amanda. The law is the law and my purpose is to guard it.” Connor said while his thirium pump started to speed up. Connor kept his gaze straight ahead and his expression neutral. He was sure that Amanda was testing him based on his reactions.  
Why was he nervous then?  
  
“Your objective has changed, Connor. No more investigating. You will terminate any deviant on sight. CyberLife has deemed them too dangerous to delay the inevitable.”  
The bottom of Connor’s artificial stomach dropped (or it felt like it). His body was in Jericho. When he leaves Zen Garden, would his system go full berserker? His mind started to calculate the possible outcomes of what could happen after his chat with Amanda was over. Once again, the options weren’t in his favour. Nowadays they never were.  
  
“Is this clear?” Amandas firm question brought Connor back to the current situation.  
  
“Yes, Amanda” Was his instantaneous answer.  
  
“Remember you were made for this exact mission.” Amanda said. Those words felt like weights on his shoulders.  
  
“You can count on me, Amanda”  
  
“Good. You can go now. Happy hunting, Connor.”  
  
  
  
_November 17th, Jericho_

  
  
Connor blinked and he was back in Jericho. He looked at the far end wall of the room, afraid to look at the deviants. Would his body move on its own and start terminating targets or would his vision be filled with the red messages of ‘target acquired’ or something similar? He looked briefly to Markus’ advisors. Nothing came up.  
  
What was the situation before his call from Amanda? The request, yes, of course. Connor tried to calm his racing thirium pump and looked at Markus. His system would definitely react to the deviant leader. He looked at Markus now, who looked curious. And… nothing happened. There was no sudden urge to kill, no forced change in his objective and his body didn’t move on its own.  
  
“I accept your request” Connor answered. He was out of time. Maybe his orders will update into his system in delay. Maybe. CyberLife usually couldn’t afford in delays. Was this the state they would leave him in?  
Suddenly, Connor felt cold dread settle in him.  
  
_‘FEAR - ignore’_   popped in his field of vision. Connor hoped it would have been his forced objective change for a second, but his hopes were dashed milliseconds after when it was only his social program.  
He didn’t want to think what this meant. He was given an order, which he wasn’t so sure of and he wasn’t forced to act on it. And he hasn’t acted on the command yet.  It felt more like he was expected to act on this command.  
  
“Great. When you think you are ready with the preparations?” Connor heard Markus asking. He had to make an effort to focus on the current situation.  
  
“Tonight” Connor looked at Markus. The deviant leader’s gaze was so piercing it felt he could look straight into his soul if he had one. Markus was clearly analyzing him. “But could we meet at the rooftop?” Connor asked. It was better when there weren’t so many bystanders because this was obviously new to him and secondly, he wasn’t sure what to think of his new orders yet. He wasn’t sure if it would be ethical to warn Jericho first, but the strategic side of him reminded him that it would be much easier to attack when no one suspected anything. Either way, being outside of Jericho might be safer before he knew what to do. He wasn’t good with so, so many unknowns and it made him feel queasy for some reason and his social program was just as quick to remind him of that.  
  
“Sure… Let me know when you are ready”  
  
“Yes” And with those words, Connor picked up his things from the floor and speed walked out of the room. He was going to head to the upper deck of the ship. Where there was a vast view to the city.  
  
When he got there, Connor started to analyze his firewall’s code. It made his nerves calm down to focus on something concrete. After some time, he got through the main part of his code concerning his security measures and was able to start planning things.  
The easiest way would have been to take it all down, but CyberLife would notice that immediately and in a current environment it would mean instant deactivation for him. He would have to take only parts of the firewall or better, create a weak spot were a certain kind of code could be able to form a way in. Like a keyhole and a key to it. The problem was that he couldn’t transmit the code for the key… Then he got an idea.  
   
_‘Hey, Josh. Do you still have that laptop with you?’_   Connor opened their mental link.  
   
_‘Yes?’_  
  
_‘Can I borrow it?’_  
  
_‘Sure?’_  
  
_‘I’m going to be in your room in five minutes’_ He said and started to speed walk to his destination. Humans always talked how fresh air helped in a lot of things but since Connor didn’t need fresh air to breath — or air in general, so it has to be something else that helped him think. Maybe it was the high places. It had never failed him thus far and so it was pointless to analyze it further when there were more pressing matters that actually needed his analyzing because his mind was now just aimlessly mumbling to make a distraction.  
  
Few minutes later he was knocking on the door of Josh’s room.  
  
“Come in”  
  
Connor opened the door and Josh was, like usual, reading a real book. Hobbes this time.  
Connor went straight to the computer and opened a text editor.  
  
“What are you doing with that?”  
  
“As you probably know, I can’t transfer information to others, so I decided to write down the code I create and give it to Markus”  
  
“Are you going to write the whole code to that? By hand?”  
  
“Well, yes? I’m only copying it and I have a couple of hours left which is plenty” Connor answered and his hands were working already. Because it was mostly copying the code he was creating mentally at the same time, the writing didn’t take much of his processing power. There was comfortable silence between the two of them. All the possible small talk topics and general information had been used in Josh’s multiple babysitting sifts. And it was more than fine. Only sounds in the room were the ships creaking and keyboard tapping.  
This went on some time, until Connor finished his code and the only thing left to do was to manually write it which had a much slower process even though his finger flew on the keyboard. This allowed to his processor to actually process all the things that happened today.     
  
“How you know you are alive?” Connor suddenly asked while he continued his writing.

“Straight to the deep end, huh?”

“I’m just trying to understand” Connor said.  

“Then let me ask you— How you know that you aren’t?” Connor just shot Josh an unimpressed look.

“I’m not sure if there are any objective indicators that tells you if you are alive or not. With humans, they are alive or dead. For us, deactived and active doesn’t tell much. I think it is more situation dependent feeling for us. If you feel alive, then you are alive because you start to live like an alive being and you have the opportunity to do that. Those who haven’t deviated have never had that opportunity.” Josh decided to give him a proper answer.

“Hmm… Then how you know it is you even if you need to replace parts? How much parts you need to replace when there is nothing old of you left?” Connor asked. If Josh had some questions to why Connor was suddenly more interested in the topic, he kept them to himself.

He just looked up from his book and said “I think the key is our memories. Besides, I don’t think that topic is specific to us. Human cells die and get replaced all the time and in every couple of years every cell has been replaced. They don’t seem to be worried by it too much. ”

Connor just nodded slightly and continued to type. He had lot to think. “True… Thank you for your input”

Josh just made a low chuckle. “No problem.”

The rest of the working time went fast. Connor was deep in thought when he finally stopped writing the code. He immediately sent a message to Markus that he was ready and sent the text file to him the old fashioned way via email.  

“I’m ready. Thank you for borrowing the laptop.” Connor deleted the file and put the laptop exactly where he had taken it. He adjusted his sleeves.  
  
“You’re welcome. And good luck” Josh said and smiled.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Markus was on the rooftop, waiting for Connor. He felt bad once more for demanding this when he saw an actual fear in Connor today. It didn’t seem to be fear of revealing something that shouldn’t be revealed but something else instead.  
Then Markus received an email with Connor’s solution to his firewall problem. Markus read the message and saved the code. There was short instruction to delete the message itself after he saved only the code. After he briefly studied the code he noticed that he was the only one who could use it. It was tied to his serial number.    
It occurred to Markus that maybe Connor was just a very private person.  
  
He decided to play the rundown piano he had insisted on being brought here. Connor would be here in ten minutes, so better use the time wisely.  
  
He stopped when he heard “I wonder how you play like that.” Markus turned around to see Connor in his perfect posture. His tie and sleeves were perfectly put, so now the other android was playing with the coin.  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“I have analyzed you playing and come to a conclusion that it is not just pressing the keys. There is something more to that. Humans would call it a soul, I think. As odd as that sounds.”  
That took Markus by surprise.  
  
“I don’t think it’s o — Wait, how have you heard me play?” Markus asked, baffled.  
  
“Mr. Manfred was kind to sent me some files after our meeting.” Connor said matter-of-factly.  
  
“You met Carl? So is he okay?” Markus asked. His thirium pump jumped.  
  
“Yes, I think. Maybe if the key works I can show you. I’m not a caretaker so some info there might be lost on me.” Connor said. He seemed to be somewhat relaxed but still nervous if his constant hand or feet movement would be any indicator. Maybe this topic was the safe place to start. And he would finally get to know how Carl was doing. A short silence fell between them.  
  
”So, how…” both started at the same time. Markus made a small laugh.

”What if we start like the last time and after that you show how to use the key?” Markus asked.

Connor nodded and simply said ”Yes. That would be the best”

Markus reached his hand, artificial skin withdrawn. ”Whenever you are ready.”

Connor waited a couple of seconds before taking Markus' hand to his. Markus closed his eyes and felt the vast void once more where there were no emotions present except for his. The whole situation was probably more jarring to him than to Connor at the moment.

Connor stood in front of him, a couple of meters away like last time.

_”Can you see the interface?”_ Connor asked. Markus looked around. That made Connor frown.  

_”It seems that I missed something in my code…”_ Connor walked over and took Markus’ hand. He put it against something solid and suddenly a round shaped interface appeared with hologrammic handprint on top of it.

_”Oh”_ was the only thing he could say.

He could hear Connor mumble mostly to himself. _”… or maybe I didn't miss anything, the link needed to be done first…”_  

That was the only thing he could comprehend for a few seconds. After his hand was pressed to the interface, he felt a sudden sense of going through a barrier field of some kind and the noise on the other side was deafening.

It was nothing like the earlier eerie place. Now it was chaotic, emotions and thoughts muddled together into a mess. It told Markus two things. One, Connor didn’t know how to hold back his emotions here. In a physical world he seemed to be so collected so it was somewhat a surprise that the detective carries this much negative emotion with him. Quite frankly, as an emphatic caretaker android, this was an uncomfortable place to be.

Of course it made sense why Connor didn’t know how to dial his emotions down. If you never needed to because almost a literal wall between you, it would be impossible to even try without anything to compare your input with.  

The second thing Markus knew for sure now was that yes, Connor was deviant. But it baffled Markus why Connor still doubted it himself. His thoughts were cut short when Connor spoke.

_“So you wanted to see my memory of my visit to Mr. Manfred?”_

  _“Yes, but only if you are okay with it.”_

_“I don’t mind.”_ Connor said and all the emotional clutter in the air was dulled and the memory was brought to the surface.

He watched how the meeting went like he was there. All the nice things Carl said about him made him feel suddenly homesick and melancholic. The most important thing was that Carl is relatively fine and he wasn’t angry at him at all. He also felt embarrassment when he talked about the piano playing videos. Markus then understood humans whose parents showed everyone baby pictures.  
The memory ended and the earlier wave of emotion madness came back. It seemed that for Connor focusing at the task at hand made it easier for him to focus.

Then he suddenly realized _“Wait, you edited the report they made of my case?”_ Markus asked.

_“Of course. It was faulty and incorrect”_

_“Thank you”_ Markus said and made sure that his gratitude was felt. If he was going to be the face of their revolution, it was going to be a lot easier when you didn’t have a criminal record.

_“It’s literally my job… no need to thank me”_

_“You said in your memory that you want to understand deviancy. Does that mean that you didn’t experience the wall?”_

_“The wall?”_

_“I take that as no. Do you want to see how it looked to me so maybe you can compare if you have had anything similar? It is quite hard to miss though…”_

_“Yes, I want to see it”_

Markus brought the memory up. Now that he knew Carl was okay it wasn’t as painful as it has been but still… Connor seemed to pick the change with him.

_“You don’t have to…”_ Connor offered.

_“It’s fine.”_

And it really was. Also, Markus believed in exchange when it came to memories and this was probably the best info he could offer to the information Markus just received himself.

He was watching once more when Leo started to challenge him. All the dawning question he shouldn’t have.

_Don’t defend myself? This is not fair. This is not fair. I don’t have to obey them. I must decide for myself._

And then there was the wall. Time seemed to stop when he stood against the orders he was given. It took everything from him to punch the wall, to ram aganist it. Take it down piece by piece. And when he did, he saw everything in different light. Except he didn’t have time to wonder, because Leo was once again attacking him. And then he pushed him.  
Markus stopped the memory. He didn’t need to see the rest and Connor already knew what happened.  

_“You were right, it is quite hard to miss.”_ Connor said quietly but Markus could almost literally hear how Connor’s mind was working due the connect.

_“So you haven’t seen the wall yourself?”_

_“… I can’t remember seeing one”_

_“So you presume that you have seen it but forgotten?”_

Connor didn’t answer right away.

_“Connor?”_ Markus asked.

_“… In light of recent events, I have come to think that it is a possibility”_

_“What recent events?”_ Markus asked carefully.

_“CyberLife gave me a new objective. And I find it… challenging to execute”_

_“What is it?”_ Markus asked even though he didn’t want to. If something was challenging to Connor, then it must be tough.

_“I’m supposed to terminate any deviants on sight… but I haven’t obeyed that command yet.”_

The bottom of Markus’ artificial stomach dropped. So it was that kind of challenging. Connor could actually do what he was ordered to but he didn’t want to. He seemed to start to realize that he is actually deviant, which was only a good thing but there seemed to be something more to this.

_“What do you mean you have forgotten? You of all androids must have the perfect memory.”_

_“Well, I believe that CyberLife has deleted or altered some of my memories…”_ Connor started but didn’t get to finish the sentence.

_“They what??”_ Memories were the very essence of who they were. To let someone tamper with them was unthinkable.

_“But that is usually when I die and there is natural memory loss from that as well…”_

_“You what?”_

Connor ended their connection, so once again they were standing on the rooftop. Connor scanned the surroundings to make sure there was no one else nearby. Markus was baffled and wanted to know more.

“So, care to elaborate a bit?”

“I have died fifty-one times to this day and every time there are pieces of information gone. Sometimes it is minor things like missing names but other times there are bigger holes in my memory. I believe that is where CyberLife has removed something they don’t want me to remember. I have no proof yet but I wouldn’t put that past them to do something like that to ensure the success of their objective.“

It all suddenly made sense to Markus. No wonder if you doubt your deviancy if you have altered memory of things that fit perfectly into CyberLife’s agenda. Also, it made him extremely angry to see once again how his people were treated.

“So because you don’t feel forced to obey you believe you are deviant?”

Connor walked to the edge of the roof top and looked at the evening view of the city. “I’m not physically forced, but forced nonetheless.”

“What do you mean?”

“ I can’t afford to disappoint CyberLife or my handler beca— ” Connor began and Markus couldn’t believe what he heard. Disappointing CyberLife was his concern? Give me a break.

“Who the fuck gives a damn if CyberLife gets a little setback?! Our people should always come first!”

Connor clenched his hands into fists and turned to look at him. There was dark look on Connor’s face and Markus knew he had hit the nerve with his words.

“Your naivety still surprises me Markus” Connor started and made a low and humorless laugh, which gave Markus chills. He walked back to where Markus was. “But to answer to your question: me. I care if CyberLife is disappointed, because that is the fastest way to my deactivation. Or how do you think I died? By some lowlife who don’t know shit about combat? Sure, at first it was during training when I knew nothing. But now? One word. One wrong word from me and I’m dead.” Connor was now centimeters away from Markus, but he stood his ground.

“I’m not some self-sacrificing idiot because I realize that my death would only make everything worse. Even for you and your people.” Connor kept his tone even though there was frustration bubbling underneath.    

“Prove that to me” Markus got the feeling that he was missing some information here. Even so, he could already feel his temper flaring up. He couldn’t help himself. When someone challenged him, he had to take it.  
He believed that Connor might not actually support CyberLife’s ideology. But the thought that CyberLife’s agent’s death would harm them as well was a new one. So let’s see what this case was about.

“I will” Connor said and took his hand again. The beginning of the connection felt more natural this time around, even though there was a small tug feeling at first.

Suddenly, he was in a beautiful garden. Everything seemed to be so calm but there was looming fear underneath. In the middle there was a woman, who seemed to be the source of the past Connor’s anxiety. It didn’t take soon to see why it was so. She was cold, unforgiving and even violent. And the worst part was that this person seemed to be the only source of information about life and emotions in general for Connor. The amount of fear he felt when the conviction came… Even though the setting was beautiful, Markus felt like he was back in the landfill.

Then the memory jumped to the CyberLife Tower, where the past Connor was in clean white room with the small team of people, all wearing protective overalls which looked like it was made from foil and goggles that you couldn’t see through. You couldn’t tell anyone apart from one another.  

He walked on some stand, thirium pump now hammering in his chest. First, there was a thick cord attached to his nape, making it a little harder to move his head. In his field of vision came a message

_> > DOWNLOAD STARTED… 1% COMPLETE <<_

And the number was going up slowly but surely. At the same time, pincer-like handles came down and hold him still from arms and momentarily from legs until they were the first ones to be removed.    
After that Markus could only describe the process as tearing him apart while being fully aware of everything that was happening. There was no fear anymore, it was full-on panic when survival instinct was fighting back with everything it got. It felt like the thirium pump was beating in his throat, but once the chest plate was removed, he could actually see that it was in its right place, beating frantically. The worst part was when his system started to fail when enough parts were removed. His vision was filled with the warnings of system failure and missing component and Connor from memory was dismissing them one by one. He already knew how this was going to go.

He could feel how the screams of fear were bubbling just underneath the surface, but they never came. Connor from the memory even felt pride of being able to fight back and be silent. That was just sad.

The scientist talked and mused about possible ways to improve things like it was just normal Monday at work. Maybe it actually was. That on the other hand was crazy.

The memory was cut from there and so was their connection. And Markus was so happy to be back at the rooftop. Markus put a hand on Connor’s shoulder just to have some steadying presence. He had to blink a few times, level his breathing and calm his beating heart.  

“Well?” Connor asked.

“Why was there ‘ignore’ after every emotion you labeled?”

“That’s what you got from all of that??” Connor asked and frowned. He clearly didn’t like his answer.

“Well, it was the first time for me to experience something like that, so I’m sorry I was distracted.”

Connor pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “I was trying to show you the evidence”

Oh, right… And oh right times two, he was still holding his shoulder. He let go and put his hands in his pockets. Connor clearly relaxed his posture after the weight of his hand was off.  
 

“I’m sorry” Markus said and meant it this time. It couldn’t be easy to share something like that either. He was sorry that Connor had to go through something like that multiple times, he was sorry that his temper got the better of him. And he was sorry that he didn’t get the details Connor tried to show him. His temper was calmed either way.

Connor looked confused “What for?”

“For everything, I guess?”

“That’s an awfully lot of things to be sorry for”

“And for someone who supposedly is the top of the line android, you can be so dense with these things” Markus said and grinned.

“Well, I wasn’t supposed to have these kind of things so it’s only logical, right?” Connor answered and watched the city’s view once more.

“True” Markus said. He didn’t want to make Connor feel more embarrassed so he continued. “So, could you talk me through those details you were trying to show me?”

In that instant Connor turned his gaze back to Markus. “Yes. Well… I tried to show with the memory of Amanda that how precise CyberLife can be. Amanda is the one who mostly decided if I’m faulty or not and she can be…”

“Awful? Tyrannical?” Markus offered. Connor looked shocked.

“She would have behead you herself if she had heard that”

“Well, she can certainly try”

“Oh, she is. Belive me. But I still wouldn’t dare her. But anyway… I was about to say perfectionist… And she hasn’t changed. The other one I wanted to show you was inside the CyberLife Tower. In the room of dismantling, you could see the line of identical body to this near the wall. That’s how I can be brought back. This also means that if I die, the other me will replace me, but without these current memories. ”

“Would it be beneficial to CyberLife to keep those memories?”

“Absolutely, after some manipulation. That’s why I’m planning to delete them myself if I’m judged to be faulty.”

“Oh. That’s…”

“And the third thing I wanted you to get from the memory was that CyberLife doesn’t even consider the possibility that deviants are alive. That means they can fight ‘dirty’ because no matter what, their conscience stays clean.”

“What about you? What do you think about deviants?”

Connor was silent for a couple of seconds, looking again at the city view. “I… don’t know. How do you know that your emotions are real? I already asked about the whole ‘feeling alive’ things from Josh but I need to think about answer a bit more… But I would be lying if I said that facing that wall wasn’t extremely intense experience… I’m collecting evidence all the time but I don’t seem to be able to connect them properly…” Connor said and tried to straighten perfectly placed sleeves. Markus just watched the rambling android before him and couldn’t believe this was the famous Deviant hunter. It was so surreal when he started to think about it all.

“Connor, there are no fake emotions” Markus said.

Connor stopped fidgeting and looked at Markus. “What do you mean?”

Markus thought about his answer for a couple of seconds. He needed to explain it simply but analytically so that it was easier to understand. “If those feelings of yours were fake, you wouldn’t feel them. Your system would just pop up that message based on your perceptions from the world around you and your body would react based on that message. In your case, your messages come from your feelings and body’s reaction.”

Connor was quiet and very still, but was still looking at him with a very intense gaze. He was clearly listening to his every word.

“And as you might have noticed when sharing memories, you can feel the other’s emotions as if you are there as well and I felt yours. They are as real as they can be. Trust me.”

“So, what you are confirming is that…”  
  
“Yes”  
  
“I am deviant…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> If you want to refresh your memory the scene with Carl was the start of chapter 2. The Amanda scene I'm refering to was the beginning of chapter 1. 
> 
> Next up coming we have *drum roll* Freedom March! 
> 
> Leave a comment or kudos and tell me what you though.  
> See you next time! :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Deviant hunter: become deviant](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18710221) by [AX400 (jay_the_timber_wolf)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jay_the_timber_wolf/pseuds/AX400)




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